Kintobor's Double Agent
by CrystalMaiden77
Summary: Miles starts working for Kintobor. Plus, I want another shot at writing how Anti-Tails would join the Freedom Fighters more naturally.
1. Chapter 1

Miles didn't always appreciate what the evil twins did every day. Most of the time, they would patrol the city to find criminals and beat them up, with the official reason being that Alicia was fighting against people abusing their freedom to commit crimes while the actual reason was so they would relieve stress and establish dominance in their city, especially when it came to weeding out any gangs that would try to form. But while Miles found it satisfying to hit criminals like muggers with his staff, or even freeze them in ice and shock them when he learned to do that, sometimes his friends couldn't find criminals that day, and on slow days like that, they would go pick Kintobor as their enemy, with the only justification being that he seemed too good to be true and " had to be " a hypocrite.

They hated self-righteous people, but while Miles seemed to buy into it at first, he was never enthusiastic about it. Whether it was wasting time destroying his Sweepbots or trying to invade his tower of healing to steal from it, over time it started to weigh down on him just how long Kintobor was going without giving him a good reason to dislike him, aside from the frustration with him for not giving him that reason and making him feel guilty instead, for staying loyal to his only friends and doing what they wanted him to do.

So the slow days were the worst days for Miles, to the point where he was relieved when Kintobor invented a force field generator for protecting his tower, because it greatly reduced the amount of times his gang wasted time going over to it, aside from the few times where Boomer would invent something to take down the force field temporarily. Today was one of those days and he ended up going home both unhappy and also grateful because at least Buns being with Kintobor was able to keep their mission from succeeding. It didn't change the fact that he ended up crying into his pillow that night.

He thought back to when Alicia told him that he was the real leader around there, and that memory always frustrated him, because he knew it couldn't be true. While it worked at first with him only telling his friends to go search for criminals to fight and debilitate for a while, eventually Patch and Boomer started complaining about Kintobor again, annoyed that he was always seen as the good guy, and when they wanted revenge for all their past failures, Miles couldn't tell them no. He was terrified of what would happen if he did. He could do nothing but stay silent as Alicia independently decided to make plans against Kintobor again, because while he knew how much they cared about their youngest member, with Alicia even taking care of him when he was sick, he couldn't help but start imagining them trying to beat him up or at least yell at and argue with him if he ever sided with Kintobor for anything.

As tears fell on his pillow with the blankets covering almost his entire head, he wished he didn't have to feel how wet the pillow had gotten on his face, but if he turned over on his back instead, he wouldn't have as much of the blankets covering his head, and he wouldn't be able to hide away from the world in a protective cocoon of warm soft covers without being under them, breathing in stuffy air as a result. He felt terrible. Miles knew that while he could try to convince his friends to leave Kintobor alone, since he hadn't done anything wrong, it would just be hopeless.

They would be offended if he told them that they were wasting their time and would call him out on not having faith in them, or dismiss him as just being depressed and thinking that nothing mattered, since he was usually quiet and unhappy regardless. They would accuse him of being a hypocrite and say that what Kintobor had done wrong was make them look like idiots for failing and like the bad guys to the general public. And Alicia in her well-intentioned mother figure way would warn him about the dangers of being naïve and assuming Kintobor was a good person, while she preferred to assume the worst in everybody to stay on the safe side.

And while he normally did that too, he had seen Kintobor so many times and not once had he ever insulted him for having two tails, and that alone put him above most of the strangers he passed by on the street, and all he ever seemed to react to him and his gang with was fear, like he was an innocent person. While Miles tried to ignore his irritation with how pointless it was, the days were always adding up, and it didn't help that even fighting criminals seemed slightly pointless after a while because he would see the same ones he had beaten up before after their injuries had healed, which told him that even if his gang beat them down, they would just keep committing crimes anyways once they got out of prison, maximum or minimum security, and of course if they outright killed them, Miles would hate himself for it and his friends knew it, which was the main reason they didn't carry guns.

When Miles finally complained about the criminals coming back, it caused Alicia to extend the prison time sentencing law to lifetime for the criminals she tended to fight, so he wouldn't see them again, but even then, their main problem was that the police usually wouldn't know unless there was security camera proof that the people they beat up were criminals. So the criminals weren't always put in jail and eventually prison in the first place, and just got up from the hospital to keep committing crimes, and sometimes that was Kintobor's hospital, giving the " heroes " of the city even more reason to resent Kintobor because he helped ANYONE, no matter who it was. Miles wished that he could be included in that. And he knew that he might be, lack of trust or not, which was even more guilt-inducing, but his friends never sent him to his hospital in particular because they were worried about him feeling indebted to him, and respecting him for being one of the very few people to help him when he was sick or injured.

Miles eventually found himself wishing that he could just make it up to Kintobor in secret without his friends or anyone who would tell his friends about it ratting him out for it, and that " anyone " part was what got him the most because while he thought it was possible that Kintobor would keep a secret for him if it meant getting favors, what if someone like his patients would see him and tell someone else about it? What if that would make news spread leading to his friends hearing the rumor? Even Kintobor making them swear to secrecy wouldn't convince Miles that they could be trusted to keep their word. If he were to start making things up to him, it would have to be in ways where only he would know about it, ideally not even Buns since he didn't trust her not to spite him with telling them, but he knew that would be too much to hope for. Of course she would find out, she lived with Kintobor now, in that robot suit.

He rolled over on his back sniffling and started wiping his eyes, trying to ignore the shame over considering betraying his friends, as he wondered if he could take advantage of his friends' paranoia of everyone they didn't know to get away with stealing from their lab, and bringing stuff Boomer made to Kintobor. He could blame it on random thieves breaking in and wanting money, and he would erase the camera footage if he was caught on any. That way, it was possible that no one would know it was him.

He'd have to do it when everyone was sleeping at night, though, and he really hated sneaking around a house at night, trying to keep silent in the pitch darkness while terrified of getting in serious trouble if he made too much noise, because all it did was put him in the same scared mindset that he had when he was four years old, and had to sneak into people's homes to get food and water to survive. It frustrated him because the logical part of his mind was certain that his friends would never hurt him or yell at him if they found out he was sneaking around the house at night. They would just be confused, and if he was on the way to one of the castle's bathrooms, he could always claim he was going there or they could assume. He could also claim he was going to the kitchen to get a snack.

Before he knew it, he found himself getting out of bed at 9:00 at night, slowly opening his bedroom door, and tip-toeing down the hallway as quietly as he could, with the excuse in his head that he was only doing it as an experiment, to see if he could get away with it, and to see if he could overcome his fear for the night and try to prove that his past didn't always define him.

While he would prefer to fly and move at a reasonable pace, the spinning of his tails would still create noise from their movement creating wind above him like that of a helicopter, and if he created a tornado and ice to fly on from below, the tornado would be making some noise too from the circling of wind to keep the ice floating. So he was forced to tip-toe as slowly as he could in the dark, and to keep himself from getting overwhelmed with fear from the familiar situation, he started slowly breathing deeply in and out, for almost ten seconds each time for both, as a method Scourge taught him to forcibly keep himself calm. His mind was a blank, aside from occasionally reminding him of some other times when he had to do this, and he tried to force himself to focus on the present.

He was thankful when he left the hallway where everyone's bedrooms were, because then he could finally light the way forwards instead of tip-toeing in the dark. He twitched his wrist and created a ball of golden light above his hand, which acted as a lantern in his palm to reassure him and guide the way. Eventually, he made it to Boomer's lab, turned off the camera with the press of a button on a control panel, erased the camera footage of him going in while unenthusiastic about seeing himself on the footage in the first place, and picked up the first random invention he saw in the lab, apathetic in his tiredness to what it was.

He sighed, wishing that he had thought to bring a bag with him to hide the invention in, and was thankful that it could fit in his boot. It was a taser which could temporarily paralyze an enemy from a safe distance, which would come in handy the next time his friends wanted to waste time going to bother Kintobor. He felt uncomfortable with the idea of making them go through that, even indirectly, when it would be used on them, but it wasn't that bad because he had no experience with that himself. He took a good look at the whole lab at once for what felt like the first time considering how apathetic he was to it, and it reminded him of why he was, as Boomer wasn't the type to try to make good inventions like Rotor which would benefit people. Boomer just made weapons, things that could stun his enemies and put them in the hospital.

For Rotor, being a Freedom Fighter gave him the initiative to want to make his world a better place, and to make a variety of different inventions that could be useful in all sorts of ways, often for the sake of fighting Robotnik easier. He had made a shrinking ray one time, and he even made a Chaos Energy Detector, which led the heroes to Chaos Emeralds or even to a portal to the Zone of Silence at one point. Of course, Boomer saw the value in Chaos Emeralds as well because they provided an infinite amount of electricity when needed, so he built a detector, but so had Kintobor, who had his Sweepbots look for Emeralds as well. This only caused the " heroes " to complain that he was hoarding the Emeralds for himself. His invention-making didn't seem to matter.

Miles wished it did, especially since he didn't have much that he could offer Kintobor, who didn't want to use weapons that would injure people, even if those people were his worst enemies. But he was fine with stunning them if it had no long-term consequences, so he had Buns equipped with quick-hardening foam shooters and even used sleeping gas. Those were the things he had the Sweepbots equipped with in case of emergency.

Thinking about this made Miles wonder if he should make those things to save Kintobor some trouble, and he would have to do research on the Internet to learn how while deleting his search history so he wouldn't be questioned about it, he was scared of forgetting to do that absent-mindedly, and he promptly decided that trying to work on secret inventions would be too risky if he was using Boomer's materials, and he might have to get some of his own and at that point, stealing his own materials for it might offset the good he would do for Kintobor. He hated having a conscience sometimes, as all it did was make him feel worse about himself when his bullies had already done too good of a job of that.

Eventually, Miles came to the conclusion that Kintobor would still appreciate getting weapons from him because he could use the materials they were made out of after dismantling them, and he would still be depriving his friends of weapons that could be used against Sweepbots, and criminals as well since Kintobor wasn't comfortable with them beating them up either. Miles knew that he would never get him to fully agree with them on that front, and he didn't plan on convincing him. He just wanted him to understand him better, and finally stop feeling bad about the fact that Kintobor might just think of him as a monster.

As he flew out of the lab with a cyclone below him standing on a platform of ice that froze the bottom of his boots to it, spinning his tails behind him to move forwards at a high speed, he started to cry again as he headed for the Grand Forest, remembering the times where Boomer had wasted time trying to cut its trees down in an effort to find Knothole just for an army of Sweepbots to stop him. He thought, " _Well, there is certainly a sense of FREEDOM in getting to fly outside without my friends there to tell me what to DO. I almost wish I could do this all the time, but then PEOPLE would start seeing me, and that never leads to anything good! Why can TAILS go out in public alone without feeling like a nervous wreck at being glared at and judged by everyone?_ "

He had been depressed and melancholic the entire night, but the hope he had was there because he wasn't thinking ahead, trying to focus on the present, the past at worst, as he spent that entire time trying to keep his mind a blank, trying to look emotionless as usual, but as he came closer to the forest, he began to lose hope as he could no longer ignore the problem he would have to deal with eventually; the force field, which none of his friends could ever get past.

Trying to stay detached from the potential hopelessness of the situation and avoid getting too upset, he stared at the green force field through the fog of tears, and thought about what it was in basic terms. Something was making the molecules of the air closer together to make them solid in the place where the force field was. What made molecules move closer together? Cold temperatures, and that was exactly why he appreciated his ability to create them so much, as his ice generation was the only way he could create a solid object with his weather kitsune abilities, and while he wished it wouldn't be so cold for him to touch, it was better than nothing. It didn't matter what that something WAS, at least Miles hoped it didn't as he was trying to stop overthinking it. The fact remained that the force field was making the atoms close together, and he knew how to move atoms with his magic.

Not sure of what else to do, Miles vibrated his hand and wrist as he focused on the idea of warmth by thinking about a time that Scourge hugged him, closing his eyes to best live in the memory, and before he knew it, he had melted a hole in the force field large enough for him to fly in, having turned it from a solid back into gaseous air. He quickly flew inside and mended the hole behind him as he felt profoundly unwelcome right away, knowing that he was in a place that he might not belong in and might never be accepted in, and he flew over to the tower of healing at an increasingly slow speed, having a feeling of dread as he just knew that he would get an unpleasant reaction.

The worst-case scenario was that he would be attacked by Buns without her even stopping to talk to him first, and it frustrated him that she might even do that at all. She didn't really know him, and he supposed that since none of his friends knew that he sympathized with Kintobor, it only made sense that she couldn't know either. He was already getting sick of hiding a part of himself from them. He wondered sometimes if they were even his real friends if they would hate him for who he really was.

It was times like this that really made him hate that Buns joined Kintobor because of how violent she was. At least the Sweepbots held back. She had clearly been unsatisfied with having stun foam instead of missile-launchers.

Miles lowered himself down in front of the tower of healing's front door, and the feeling that he was unwelcome there started to seriously overwhelm him as he started not only sniffling, but gasping like he was sobbing as well, and he hated himself for showing that kind of weakness, wishing he could always be as serious and cold as people thought he was. He slowly walked up to the front door, and eventually stopped and had to sit down, wiping away tears frantically wanting to avoid being seen with them when he knew it was hopeless. He knew that even though it was night, there was still a possibility that there could be people in the room behind that door, strangers who would see him in that moment of weakness and stare at him, and whisper things they tended to whisper, like, " That's pathetic, " and, " HE'S crying? "

He also wondered if it was possible that no one would ever open the door and go confront him to save him the trouble because it was so late at night. He could've come here at midnight, so he knew it could be worse, but he still worried that Kintobor AND Buns would be asleep at that point and would never see him. He was sure that he had at least one hidden camera near his tower, though, because how else would he have known when he needed to activate the force field to keep his friends out before he had gone and rocketed that tower out of Mobotropolis to get it to Knothole? He had regretted having to leave the city where more people would be in need of his help, but Knothole was further away and safer and he preferred to help out in a safe haven village that his force field would create, the same one Miles effortlessly went past.

He hoped his friends would never discover that he could do that. He dreaded the very idea of it, and he promised himself in his head that he would never do it. Even if they were opposed to it, he could easily freeze anyone who tried to hurt him, but what about when he was asleep? He couldn't live with people who would hate him for betraying them, and that was exactly why he hoped to keep what he was planning to do a secret, and he dreaded the possibility of Buns not keeping it secret. She always looked for something to have over him, to use against him because he was the weak link in their gang, the sensitive one who was too young to truly belong.

Eventually after a minute of nothing happening but him crying, Miles decided that he was sick of waiting, and of the cold night air and breeze making him start shivering, forcing him to realize that he couldn't stay outside forever. He could technically use his heat powers to stay warm all night, but only if he was willing to stay up all night, which he was able to do before, but he needed all the sleep he could get. " _I came all this way, there's no sense turning back now. I can't just sit here feeling sorry for myself! I can at least do that inside where it's warm,_ " Miles thought, and took a deep breath before forcing his shaking hands to open the front door and forcing himself to walk into the tower's waiting room, one careful step at a time.

He was slow from reluctance, he dreaded what was coming, and when he saw that no one was in the waiting room, he sighed in relief, incredibly grateful for his good luck, and thought, " _Good! Well, I suppose it IS late out, and Knothole doesn't have that many people in it. Now, how long will I have to wait here before someone comes and finds me?_ " He slowly walked up to one of the many chairs in the room, looked at a big fish tank in the middle of it and had the brief thought that if he was stupid enough to smash it, he'd get in trouble and defeat the purpose of coming there, and he was worried that someone would assume he was planning to do that just from seeing him. But he didn't know where else in the tower he could stay.

He didn't know where exactly to go to find Kintobor. He'd certainly be scared if he knocked on his bedroom door, and he was expecting him to be startled and freak out regardless of where he'd see him in his tower and home, at least he hoped it was his home because if it wasn't, the entire trip there would be a doomed effort, at least for the night. He would have to stay there all night hoping to see him in the morning and knowing that a negative reaction was all he had at first to look forward to.

He knew that no matter what, he'd be reacted to negatively at first sight, so there was no point in postponing the inevitable, but he still couldn't help but be really scared of how things could go horribly wrong. He imagined Kintobor in his bed immediately gasping and calling out, " BUNS! Help! " without letting him talk first, or worst of all pressing a button to signal her, which would immediately put him in danger as he might ignore everything he would try to say to him in a panic, and walking closer to him would only make him feel worse. The biggest incentive he always had to NOT apologize was the fear that he would be called a liar if he did.

He forced himself to take a deep breath and held his knees close to him on the floor in a fetal position and reasoned with himself in his head that Buns only had non-lethal weapons like quick-hardening foam, so while it would be embarrassing to be caught in it, at least for someone as self-conscious as him, it wouldn't actually be a big deal because he was planning on staying still in front of Kintobor and talking to him anyways, foam or not. Kintobor didn't want anyone to get hurt, so he wouldn't let Buns hurt him, and she was known for being obedient to him, surprisingly. Miles always assumed she was simply so cynical that she was paranoid he would stop helping her if she disobeyed him.

He didn't trust Buns, and he realized that he was far more scared of her than of Kintobor, because she had a temper and was far more cynical than someone compassionate like him. The ideal scenario for him was that he could talk to Kintobor alone, and he became impatient with sobbing on the floor and decided that he had to at least try. He was in the tower as it was, discovery was inevitable, and they would wonder why he was on the camera footage and Buns might question him in front of his friends for all he knew. He was better off doing it as early as he could so he could get some sleep earlier.

Miles slowly made his way through the tower, going up the stairs and walking through its halls to try to find what was hopefully a bedroom, and at one point a thought crossed his mind that he might open Buns' door by mistake, and he found himself terrified again, because he had no way of knowing which door would belong to Kintobor. This was the breaking point for him as his hand hovered over a door about to knock on it, where he could be taking a huge gamble for all he knew. He thought, " _It's not fair! I was so close!_ " and he couldn't help but gasp as he started sobbing, both from dreading the negative reaction that was coming, and from the unbearable amount of guilt and low self-esteem weighing down on him worse than it ever had.

His lack of true self-respect had gotten to the point where he had come all this way despite the risks because a part of him didn't care anymore about what would happen to him if he did. He was just curious about what would happen if he tried, and he hadn't thought at first that his absent-minded experiment would take him so far before he could back out of it.

He realized that ultimately it didn't matter if they caught him, because Kintobor didn't want to hurt or kill him, so the worst he had to look forward to was hurt feelings from being reacted to badly, which was something he experienced every day just by going outside. And even if Kintobor kidnapped him, he might just be doing him a favor, giving him an easy out of his lifestyle, and he could easily escape any police anyways.

When he heard some noise coming from inside the room he was sitting in front of, he felt horrified at the sudden noise and what it meant, as his shoulders moved upwards in a startled jolt and he tensed up. He had a pit in his stomach and his blood ran cold, and he could've sworn his heart had skipped a beat, but what he did know for sure was that he could feel it beating in his chest from sheer dread and the sound of those footsteps made him start shaking, and he always hated feeling that pounding in his chest because he started getting paranoid that he would have a heart attack when he felt it.

After holding his breath to be quiet for a few seconds, he eventually forced himself to knock on the door, deciding that he had to make the move first because it would only make him look worse if Kintobor was the one who discovered him, instead of him discovering him. It would make it clear to him that he wanted him to find him, rather than Kintobor simply discovering an intruder in his home, and it would hopefully tell him that he wasn't a threat because he was making no effort to hide himself and had the courtesy to knock on his door. He was lucky, because he had knocked just a second before it was too late.

The door opened, and he heard Kintobor gasp and saw his legs in front of him through the tears, and forced himself to say, " I'm sorry! " in a breaking voice, in spite of both his fear-fueled reluctance at what could be a waste of time and reluctance at talking when his voice would be choked up. He was humiliated at being seen like that.

Kintobor sat down in front of him and said frantically, " What's wrong?! Please don't cry! What do I have to do to get you to stop?! " in a voice that, while upset, wasn't nearly as panicked as he was dreading. Miles didn't know what else to say, so he decided that there was no harm in speaking his mind. " I-I thought you were going to treat me like a monster! I-I had to force myself to come here! " he admitted with a breaking voice, wiping away tears as fast as he could even though they kept coming out. He could feel his face heat up as well, and Kintobor told him, " Come into my room, okay? It's okay! "

Miles stood up and did what he was told, sat down as soon as he could, and Kintobor closed the door behind him and turned on the light as Miles held his breath for a while just to avoid sobbing in front of him. " How'd you get past my force field? " Kintobor asked. " I-I made it warmer by doing this, " Miles stammered, and shook his wrist to briefly make the room warmer in a comfortable way before undoing it in case he wasn't allowed to, and explained, " I just knew that the force field was making the atoms close together, and that's what I do when I make ice, I freeze the air, so, I made it warmer. And I fixed the hole right away! Go check sometime, I don't care! "

Kintobor finally had the courage to chance putting his hand on his shoulder, and while Miles was startled, he didn't do anything else to resist and said, " Thanks, " still confused at how things were turning out well for him. " I-I, you… " Miles stammered, and decided not to ask why he was being so nice to him because he realized it would be a stupid question, as he knew that Kintobor was compassionate enough to start feeling sorry for him and asking that would only waste time.

Finally, he took a deep breath, and blurted out with his eyes closed, " I need to make it up to you! " despite the fear of the consequences, and continued, " I brought a peace offering! I'm willing to give you anything from his lab, and you can use it for materials if you don't want it. Like this taser shooter, the next time they bother you! " He felt the need to warn him what he was going to pull out of his boot first just in case he would startle him otherwise by making him think he was about to hurt him.

" Thanks, but, why? " Kintobor said in confusion, taking the invention and putting it aside. Wishing he could've explained that in the first place, Miles took a deep breath, sighed and admitted, " I'm so sick of it all. I never wanted to bother you, but they made me do it, and I didn't want to be disloyal to them! For all I know, they would hurt me! More likely they'd just argue with me and not understand. What if you really are a good person and never deserved any of that? But I could never convince them to stop, let alone understand, so I always had to HIDE the part of me that was opposed to it, from my own friends! They always told me that they thought you were too good to be true, and were actually only, well, pretending to be good, like one of those hypocrites out there, but after a while I couldn't help but notice that you were doing NOTHING to justify hating you! You never called me a freak or mutant or, monster, you never even insulted my tails once! That already makes you better than most people I've seen! "

Kintobor looked at him with sympathy the whole time, but the final sentence made him feel the most sorry for him of all, as he commented, " I've heard how people talk about you, and I never liked it either. It's not your fault you were born with, things that makes you special. " Miles smiled briefly, as he thought it was sweet that he called him special, just like Scourge used to, and he missed what a caring brother he used to be, before he got distracted by girls.

Miles said unhappily, " They said you made them look like idiots, but it was them who went to bother YOU in the first place, and, well, they kind of WERE. All they want to do is relieve stress, and when they don't have criminals to do it with, they waste their time with you instead of getting a real hobby. I don't get it! It's so stupid! They could just buy punching bags if they're so frustrated! Or go zone-hop somewhere and be REAL heroes! But instead, that's just too simple… "

Miles sniffled, finally had the courage to look him in the eyes, and begged him while looking sad and scared, " PLEASE don't tell them I came here! I don't want them to HATE me! I have to LIVE with them and they're my only friends! But I can't take it anymore! I want to start making it up to you, I'll do anything! Give you Boomer's inventions, d-do your chores, I dunno! I just need you to keep it a secret! I'm not ready for them to know! They'll never understand! I-I-I don't know if I'll be able to stop humoring them, but if you really want, I could try making excuses not to. I could hurt myself to get out of it, since I can't fake being sick without getting caught! "

Kintobor told him unhappily, " Don't do that! I don't want you getting hurt because of me! " looking alarmed the whole time and trying to ignore that he was welling up with tears himself just from pitying the child. Miles continued in a panic, " If I can't opt out without them getting too angry, I could make up for that too, and I, well I already always held back. Whenever I could get away with it, I even made sure some of those plans against you failed! Though I didn't entirely feel right about it. Like I don't deserve to be with them if I'm going to do that to them. But, I never felt like I deserved friends anyways. So what's the difference?... I'm sorry if you're mad at me ' playing both sides, ' but I don't really want to play their side to begin with when it involves you. And something tells me I can't just tell them they're wasting their time. S-So, can I be your double agent or something? "

" Sure you can! " Kintobor said, trying to smile in spite of his pity for him, desperately wanting to get him to feel better. " Really? I-It's THAT easy? " Miles replied, confused and suspicious, and was scared that him just saying that sentence would make him think he was tricking him all along.

Kintobor reassured him, " Why wouldn't it be, why wouldn't I want you to make up for things? I'm proud of you! Although I don't know if that means anything to you coming from me. I don't even know if you trust me yet. "

Miles said, " I-I do, I guess. It's Buns I don't trust. And no, I'm not trying to turn you against her, I think it's good that she's helping you FINALLY! I just don't trust her not to hurt me now, or to not tell anyone what's going on! I really don't want them to find out about this! I can't believe it was so, easy, I thought, you'd be terrified of me! I, this seems too good to be true! "

Kintobor replied, " Well, you're not alone, it's a pleasant surprise to me too! Although Buns always said you were, well, the nice way to put it is that you had a conscience and had FEELINGS, and she didn't really sympathize with that. So it wasn't that surprising to me that you'd have a conscience after that. I'm just glad you finally had the courage to do this. "

" You have no idea how hard it was for me… If I had known it was going to be so easy and you'd agree that fast, I, I'm so sorry I took so long! " Miles said sadly, and added, " I feel like an idiot! " while worrying that it might be the same with the Freedom Fighters, who he had the occasional daydreams about trying to join ever since he first met them, and the only thing aside from loyalty that stopped him from asking, was fear of how it would all go wrong. " Don't say that! You know that's not true! Everyone makes mistakes sometimes! " Kintobor reassured him, and then asked him, " Uh, would you appreciate a hug from ME? "

Miles immediately nodded, and smiled and sighed at getting a hug, returning it the best he could as part of an apology. " Thanks, " he said with a smile that was also nervous, as he was self-aware and embarrassed of how unusually nice he was being. He admitted, " I'm not used to being honest about, well, having a ' soft side. ' Most people don't know me for that, it's not, what I'm known for. I-I, uh, you'll accept me for it, right? " Kintobor reassured him, " Of course I will! I'll do more than accept it, I'll encourage it! But right now, you should have some rest. It's really late for you to be up. "

Miles let go and explained, " Oh, right. I'd better go back home then. If I slept here, they'd know I wasn't home by breakfast and they'd freak out. But we need a way to contact each other in secret in case you ever want something. I guess flying here myself works fine, but I can only do it at night and it's so inconvenient. It wasn't easy on me to come all the way here! Well, in retrospect maybe I should've just flown out of my window again instead of tip-toeing through the castle, but I needed to get to the lab to bring you that thing. "

Kintobor said with a smile, " I'll get you something. But of course, I don't have anything prepared. I'll get you some kind of phone or walky-talky as soon as I can. Right now, I guess flying here in person will have to do. Don't worry, I'll tell Buns not to bother you, I'll explain everything to her and make her PROMISE to keep things a secret for MY sake. Just, you don't have to come here so late next time. I'm sure that right after supper at least, everyone in the castle will be done for the day and they won't think to go look for you. "

Miles said sadly, " I'm sorry if I won't get to spend much time helping you out! I mean, I don't get that much alone time, and when I do get it, I prefer to spend it playing the piano. But I'll make some time! Maybe I can start testing the waters and seeing what happens if I at least TRY to opt out of doing stuff with them. I can't really think of any times they ever PUNISHED me for anything, so what's the worst that could happen if I just asked to stay home sometimes? I hope I didn't horribly jinx it by just SAYING that. I KNOW they'd never torture me, or hurt me in general. Or at least I trust Alicia not to. Patch, I can't really… even respect anymore. "

Miles looked resentful and ranted bitterly, " Not after the way he acted on Mobius Prime. He came SO CLOSE to making something of his life, by being a Freedom Fighter, and then he threw it all away on a dumb plan to take over a kingdom he didn't even care about! And he poisoned some perfectly fine people to do it! I still can't trust him with my food or drinks now! "

Kintobor looked shocked at the news about Patch, and Miles said, " I can't believe I finally told someone. About ALL of this. That's, a weight off my shoulders, I guess. A-Alright, well, goodbye, " and ran out of the room and left the tower as fast as he could in a yellow blur before Kintobor could offer to escort him out himself. He smiled, incredibly proud of him for what he did, and hoped things would turn out well for the both of them.

The two of them kept true to their word. By the next night, when Miles came back to Kintobor not nearly as nervous as before, he was given a phone about which Kintobor said, " It can contact only me, so now we can talk whenever you want! " and Miles would make a habit out of separating himself from his friends to warn him about their plans against him ahead of time. He was as careful about it as possible, making sure to fly a good distance away from them first before calling Kintobor, often flying out of a window in the castle to do so high up in the sky, just to make sure no one would overhear him or witness him doing it.

Boomer reacted to the theft in his lab right after he returned there after breakfast, as he ran back into the castle and exclaimed while going back to the kitchen, " My taser-gun, it's gone! Somebody stole it from the lab and erased the camera footage I had and when I came in, the camera was off! " " Well, don't look at us! " Patch replied in annoyance, as Miles slowly tried to leave the kitchen really nervously. " I didn't SAY it was one of you! Why would it be? If you want one of my weapons, all you have to do is say you want it! Obviously it's just some thief… Maybe even Buns. Who would want weapons to use against me better than our worst enemy? " Boomer said in irritation.

Miles was relieved and made sure to look in a direction that would keep them from seeing his smile, and he soon worried about the fact that he would have to do that a lot, thinking, " _It wouldn't do if they caught me smiling after their plans failed because I had Kintobor prepared. But I like smiling for a change! It's hard to make it stop just to avoid suspicion. _"

Miles also made a mental note to himself that from then on, the breakfast after he'd steal from Boomer's lab, he would make sure to be in the piano room when Boomer was making commotion about the theft, both to avoid them seeing him smile about a job well done and to avoid him getting nervous that they might catch on to him. While being a double agent did add to his life the stress of having to look away to hide his smiling or suspicious nervous expression from his friends, it was offset by the satisfaction of knowing he was helping the right side for a change. It felt good to be helping Kintobor and giving the gang what they had coming for wasting time bothering him.

All the while, he had to keep himself from saying anything about the thefts and how prepared Kintobor was for them, because he was more paranoid than ever that even one sentence showing that he didn't care about their complaints and thought they were wasting their time with Kintobor would risk them accusing him of sympathizing with him.

Fortunately for Miles, Buns was all too happy to take the credit for the thefts from Boomer's lab, saying, " I sure DID! What are you gonna do about it?! " which kept them from thinking it was anyone other than her. And his friends were already used to Kintobor having an easy time with him and making them look like idiots, and Miles had an easy time convincing them that, " Maybe he's sending spy cameras to us that we can't find, " to explain away Kintobor being so prepared.


	2. Chapter 2

" You left this in your shirt, " was a sentence that Miles never thought he would be so afraid of, but months later he was horrified to hear it, as it was said to him when the castle maid gave him the phone he called Kintobor with right in front of his friends. If he was confident and smooth, he would've smiled casually and been able to play it off as just something he recently invented or stole. But the second he was handed that phone, his pupils shrunk and he looked horrified, and everyone in the throne room caught it. Boomer said in confusion, " Wait, what's that? Since when do you do engineering on your own? And what's the point of making a phone when you're with us all the time? "

Miles was at least grateful that Boomer already assumed for him that the phone was his own invention, but it did nothing to keep him from stammering and being incredibly nervous, and he stammered acting defensive, " Well of course there's a point, the point is that if I'm ever separate from you guys, like I'm stuck at home sick, you can call me with it! " Alicia asked in confusion, " But why? About what? How are we expected to call you? Did you make only ONE of those things? "

Miles felt ganged up on as Boomer commented, " Gee, you really didn't go all the way here, all this thing seems to let you do is call people. There isn't even a SCREEN! N-No offense, Miles, I know you're not enthusiastic about engineering to begin with. I'm just glad you made something on your own, and it's not fair to expect too much for the first time. But it's weird of you to have a secret project without telling me, I'd expect you to wanna show it off right after you made it! Why were you so scared? "

Miles stammered, " I-I wanted it to be a surprise that I'd reveal later. It's really not a big deal, let's not, I don't care about it. " Then Patch asked, " So when is it that we'll get OUR versions of these things for calling you? Though it's not as if I could even think of when we'd need to do it since we're always with you. " Miles then lied while walking out of the room with it, " Exactly, you never will! I just made this to test myself to see if I can do it, that's all. I-In fact I'll be smashing it for spare parts later on. A-And I stole the materials to make it, of course, just so you know. "

Alicia looked at him doubtfully in confusion with a hand on her hip and asked him, " So do you have any plans on making anything other than that, that's useful to us, or will that be all? " He stopped in front of the exit to the room feeling cornered, and she continued, " I don't mean to insult you, I just want to know. It's not like you to make something on your own with no fanfare without telling us about it. "

Miles stammered, " W-Well, I… I won't do it again. It's not a big deal at all… " briefly considering telling them he stole it, only to realize that he'd only dig an even deeper hole because then he'd have to tell them who he " stole it " from, and the only answer would be " from Kintobor, " because only he was someone they knew was capable of making it. And then they would question why Kintobor would make a walky-talky for someone when Buns was his only known ally and she communicated with him through the robot suit itself, and that would combine with how scared he clearly was at being handed his phone in front of them to make it obvious who Kintobor's new ally really was.

But if he let them think he did make it, they would and were clearly already expecting him to want to make stuff on his own. Trying to have things make sense to them, he added, " I don't think I'm capable of doing anything better than this on my own, " and hoped that would make them not ask him to do that, using his genuine self-esteem issues with it as an excuse. Boomer asked, " So what do the buttons do? " and he left the room in a hurry before any of them could talk to him some more, saying, " What else would they do? It's obvious! " in frustration, and immediately hoping that he wouldn't get consequences for being rude to them for once.

He sighed in relief after leaving earshot of them, and thought as he quickly walked away, " _That was close! Now should I have a talk with that maid, or… Would it just make her suspicious of me because I'm making a big deal out of her handing it to me in front of them, and can she be trusted with my secret when she's apathetic to me at best? I already explained the phone away to them, but I also just said that I was going to scrap it. I'd better learn my lesson from this! No more leaving it in my shirt pocket when I need my laundry done._ "

Unfortunately, his friends soon confronted him in his bedroom as he was putting the phone in his closet, and Boomer asked in annoyance, " Come on, why can't you just tell us what the buttons do? That'd take three seconds! " He hoped Miles wouldn't feel too hurt at him being annoyed at him, but it was really bothering him how he had walked away with barely an explanation.

As Miles looked at them with pupils shrunken from stress and an expression of dread, Patch said, " Yeah, we'd think you would've been eager to tell us what is it that the buttons on your own invention do! " and Alicia complained, " We don't like when you hide stuff from us. And sure, we get it when it's about your past, it's nothing but depressingness and we're better off not knowing. But this is something really minor, and you got us curious! "

Miles backed away a little and said nervously, " O-Okay, um, there's a power button, a volume up button and a volume down button. That's it, " pointing to the various buttons on it. Boomer asked, " That's IT? How do you make CALLS with it, then, if there's no numbers? " Miles replied after getting annoyed, " It's only meant to receive a call from one person! I-I mean, phone! Which one of YOU would have, theoretically. B-But again, you said so yourself, we don't NEED walky-talkies because I'm always near you when we go out, so I don't care! Why would you care about this stuff anyways? Boomer I could understand, but the rest of you aren't engineers, why are you pestering me and ganging up on me?! "

" We don't mean to! " Alicia exclaimed unhappily, just as Miles went back to being really nervous because he thought he was in trouble for being frustrated with them and failing to hide it. " Sorry, " Miles apologized nervously, and Alicia continued, " You just got us curious because you made something and wouldn't tell us what the buttons did, that's all. It didn't seem like you. You need to stop being so down on yourself that you won't even tell us about one of your own accomplishments! You were even SCARED because we saw it! That's nothing to be afraid of! We're not gonna put pressure on you to make stuff on your own if you're not ready yet, we know it's just a rare thing. Right, guys? "

Patch was more reluctant and confused than Boomer was, but they both said, " Right, " trying to get him to relax. Sometimes Miles wished they wouldn't try so hard to humor him and focus so much on when he was scared or insecure, as it felt embarrassing and almost condescending at worst for them to focus on his moment of weakness, instead of it being politely ignored and shrugged off. But in those times, he usually reminded himself that if they didn't say, " No offense, " he would feel even worse.

" Well, weren't you gonna smash it for scrap metal? Can I help with that? " Boomer asked. " NO! " Miles exclaimed a little too loudly for his own good, and immediately felt embarrassed and nervous, and said, " I-I'm too proud of it now, for the sentimental value! Y-You made me realize I was wrong. " " Before we even came in the room? So I guess that's why you were putting it in your closet. " Boomer replied, and Miles nodded and finally started to smile, relieved at a lie being thought up for him unintentionally. " That's right! Now it's no big deal, okay? I'm sick of talking about it. Let's never mention it again! " Miles said, and he hoped that wouldn't give the game away as well.

" We didn't mean to make you so nervous for no good reason. Boomer didn't mean any harm by earlier, I'm sure it'd be a perfectly functional invention, " Alicia apologized as Patch and Boomer walked away, tired of what he perceived as pointless drama from the youngest member.

When they left his room, he was too anxious to be relieved, as he had the closest call he'd ever had. Miles thought, " _If Boomer had pressed the power button on my phone for whatever reason, he would've immediately made it call Dr Kintobor! So stupid, I should've asked him to put numbers on this thing! Even if they didn't do anything, at least it'd look more convincing! They could be used for a password function so only I could call him. In fact, I should tell him to do that with it right now._ "

With that, he opened his bedroom window and flew out of it with the phone to go talk to Kintobor high in the sky. " Hey Miles I forgot to ask, uh… " Boomer said going straight back into his room, only to notice that he had left it. He was about to ask him where he stole the materials to make the phone from, since he was curious about that as well. Miles never did things on his own without being forced to, and even that was very rare, with only Scourge doing it to him once. With his severe social anxiety, his friends knew that he would feel better sticking with them instead of going on missions alone where he could have to deal with other people, so him going out by himself to find metal invention materials on his own was very unusual to them. But because Miles had left the room so early having no way of knowing what would happen next, this only made Boomer suspicious.

He looked out his bedroom window, and was unable to find Miles, since he had long since flew high above and far ahead of the castle to go call up Kintobor in private. And the only clue Boomer had to why he left was that he took his phone with him, a phone that he thought wasn't able to call anyone with no other phone like it built.

Boomer thought suspiciously, " _If he isn't calling any of US… No, it can't be! Maybe he's not calling anyone, I mean he DID say, but wait, he told me NOT to destroy it! He practically shouted not to! Why would he want to do it himself?! No wonder he was so nervous! Kintobor's got to him! He's manipulating him, isn't he?! And, ugh, I wonder if he's gonna start crying if we talk to him about it?! Why does he still have to be so sensitive? We walk on eggshells around him, and I'm sick of saying, ' No offense! ' That's not who I am… Wait until the others hear about THIS! _" and rushed out of the room before Miles would know what happened.

Boomer rushed back to the kitchen where his friends were walking through and told them, " Guys! He flew out the window somewhere with the phone! I couldn't see where he was, but he was probably gonna call someone! And if he's not calling any of US, who else could it be? " Alicia and Patch looked shocked, and Alicia said unhappily with her hand on her chin, " It has to be Kintobor. He's the only other person he really knows in this world who ALSO can engineer stuff like that phone. I can't believe he'd do this! Though it wouldn't be the first time he tried to lie to us, but… what was he thinking?! Betraying us for Kintobor? What's come OVER him? What if it ISN'T him and is just some alternate Tails lookalike? No, maybe I'm just overthinking this, of COURSE it's really him… "

Patch complained, " He's our worst enemy! He humiliates us constantly with his Sweepbots! Why is it that he'd become buddies with him NOW? We need to get some answers out of him, or it's going to drive us crazy not knowing- " " Hold on, Patch, be careful, " Alicia told him sternly with her arms crossed, and advised, " Let's at least try to act calm and civil. We all know how sensitive he can be by now, and he's never completely trusted us to begin with, but if we confront him about this, all we'll do is terrify him! Sure, we all want to know what's going on with him, but let ME do the talking so I can at least try to be gentle with him! As odd as that sounds coming from ME. "

Patch protested, " But he's betraying us! How could you not want to call him out on it?! Aren't you furious? " Alicia replied, " I am a little miffed, but he's still a kid that I RAISED for the past couple YEARS. That doesn't just go away just because he's acting up! Problem is, he's also stubborn as a mule about some things, like he still has that no killing policy. And HE'S the reason we don't carry guns! So we're not gonna convince him to stop calling him! If it even IS him and not some random other engineer we don't know about that happened to befriend him, but that's even less likely, when would he ever meet him? If we tell him we know the truth, all that's gonna get him to do is FREAK OUT and run away because he doesn't trust us not to hurt him! "

She smirked from believing that she had a brilliant idea, and said, " From now on, we need to make our plans against Kintobor WITHOUT Miles there to hear it. We can go on those missions without him, and I'll tell him that we're giving him a break for some alone time for a change. And meanwhile, NONE OF YOU are gonna make it obvious that you're mad at him. GOT IT?! " They all nodded reluctantly, more scared of her than they were annoyed at Miles, and Patch said, " I still want to know why he's doing this to us. I thought he was the most fanatically loyal out of all of us! "

When Miles came into the kitchen none the wiser, Alicia said with a smile, " Good news, sweetie! I've decided to give you some more days-off so you can have some time to yourself for a change! It's about time I reward you for all your years of unquestioning loyalty to us! " Miles was confused, and smiled nervously saying with a bashful expression, " Aw, that's sweet, " hugged Alicia which made her smile, and let go to continue as the others glared at him in annoyance, " Well I suppose I HAVE spent a long time with you all, but I'm still surprised you'd give me any breaks. It's not like I don't like relieving some stress and pent-up frustration, especially against CRIMINALS, but I like spending time playing music too. "

A half an hour after they left him alone, Miles' phone rang in his shirt pocket, since he had forgotten to put it in his closet, and when he answered it saying, " Hello? " Kintobor on the other line asked him in confusion, " Why didn't you warn me about their attack today? They ganged up on my Sweepbots! Although at least you weren't WITH them, so that's an improvement. "

Miles said in surprise, " Wait, what? I didn't know about that. Since when do they make plans without telling me? Well, I guess that's what I get for doing the same thing to THEM, but all Ally told me today was that she wanted to give me more breaks and let me stay home for some alone time! She said it was a reward for my loyalty! It came out of nowhere… But I should've known. That was right after they found out about my phone! Of course they figured it out! I'm sorry! "

" I know, I know, kiddo, you already apologized a half hour ago. Everyone forgets they have stuff in their clothes sometimes, and you couldn't risk telling the maid not to hand it to you in front of them if she ever found it. So they're making plans without you now? You're going to have to sneak up on them and listen in on them then if they're trying to do it in secret. And don't just blame yourself. It's my fault for rushing the phone instead of making some numbered buttons on it to look convincing at least, " Kintobor replied.

" Even then, they'd still ask why I had it with no other phone like it for THEM. What am I gonna DO? Ally was still nice to me, she even hugged me BACK when I thanked her for the break, but was that all a lie? Is she really mad at me? And, what about the REST? What about PATCH? I'm glad none of them have any hand in making my meals. But what if they talk the CHEF into doing something?! " Miles said with a scared expression.

" They wouldn't poison you, would they? You said so yourself that the princess loves you like you're her own son! " Kintobor replied in concern. Miles said looking paranoid and scared, " M-Maybe not, I mean, if they really wanted to kick me out, they would've done so by now, not tried to spare my feelings and been subtle… Then again, maybe they're just being subtle because they KNOW what I'm capable of now. They know I could freeze them in ice blocks or shock them any time I'd want to, so if Patch ever wanted to kill me, he'd have to poison me! They know I'm a light sleeper, and I could always lock my door at night. Okay, m-maybe it's not so bad! Maybe as long as I keep a careful eye on them, and don't turn my back to them, maybe things will just go on like normal? I mean, Patch is the same person who would hold my hand when I was afraid of the dark and he stands up for me every time some stranger tries to bother me! He's the closest to a brother I have now! H-He wouldn't try to hurt me, right? "

Kintobor replied, " Maybe not. But if you're ever, I mean, if the situation at home gets too much for you to handle, you can ALWAYS come live with me. I mean, you said you're staying with them because they're your only FRIENDS, but would friends make you afraid of them? Would friends make you worry that they're going to hurt you or WORSE? And don't worry, I'm not TRYING to just turn you against your friends, you've already made it very clear that you love them, but I'm just saying there's a safe haven for you. Just in case. "

Miles sighed, and admitted, " If push comes to shove, and they stop being fond of me, I'd rather just come join the Freedom Fighters. You know, the ones on Mobius Prime. I'd rather have multiple friends over just one, no offense. It's just, it's not fair! I wish I could just have it both ways, but I can't exactly pack things up, come live with you, and expect them to still want my company! If I can't trust them not to hurt me, even when we're out fighting criminals, how am I gonna live, and when I'm fighting criminals, what if they attack me when I'm distracted fighting someone?! You remember how stressed out I was when I was going to get an alliance with you? Multiply that by six, because that's how I'll feel trying to cross the OTHER burned bridge, especially with my twin in the group! How's HE going to react?! I know exactly how, and that's the problem. But if I just stay with you, then… I'll only have one friend left. Or Buns, too, I think she's starting to warm up to me a bit. "

Kintobor reassured him, " She IS, she's really proud of you for going to help me. She just doesn't like to admit it and look like a ' softie. ' So you'd have TWO companions! You can bring your CDS and CD player here and your violin, and I'll get a piano, I don't mind! Who would you really miss? Because I've only ever heard you being fond of Alicia, aside from the occasional mentions of Patch. Boomer I don't hear you talk about as a friend at ALL. "

" It's just Alicia, I guess. Even if I swallowed my pride, faced my biggest fear and tried to join the Freedom Fighters, Sally would never be as fond of me as Ally. I just can't imagine her doing anything but glaring at me! I'll NEVER forget how she looked at me last time! " Miles replied, and then his ears drooped as he looked depressed and continued, " Although I DID just insult her friend, with the worst of timing… I'll have a lot to apologize for, and it'll be humiliating. But it's not like I don't want to go there. I just need an excuse to force me to go! And so far, I don't feel forced just yet. But when I do go, I'm sorry I'll be leaving you without a double agent. "

" It's okay, kiddo. Whatever makes you happy. And you need it, " Kintobor replied, worried about him and hoping he would do okay. Miles tried to look on the bright side and stay calm as he said, " You fared perfectly fine without me before, so well that they barely got any ' victories ' over you in the first place! And at least now you've got Buns on your side. The point is, maybe I should just get it over with and talk to my friends. They obviously know what I've been doing and they probably resent me for it, and it's going to drive me crazy not knowing the full extent of it, so maybe this'll be the excuse I need. If I can get myself to talk about it anyways. I think I'd rather THEY make the first move. "

When his friends came home minutes later to pick him up for patrolling the city, Patch would do exactly what he had hoped, and regardless of what Alicia had told him to do, he approached Miles by himself in his piano room and asked, " What were you thinking?!... KINTOBOR? _Vraiment_ _?! _" making his shoulders jolt upwards in a jump as he startled him opening the door. Knowing what was coming, Miles turned to face him trying to look serious and avoid having his back to him, as he began to hear the rest of his friends coming up to the room.

Keeping silent, Miles knew he was in trouble, but reminded himself of how capable he really was. Even without his electricity and ice powers, which he wasn't using until after Scourge was sent to prison, he could always spin his tails in front of himself to create wind and send Patch away, as well as fly with them just in case, and that thought helped reassure him that no matter what, he was the one with the upper hand. He just wished he could believe it.

Patch crossed his arms and said, " Well? And don't bother yourself with playing dumb with me. It's obvious what you were doing. Since when is it that you ever build things on your own, AND CALL people who aren't even us?! I don't know how Kintobor talked you into this when you're always with us, but- "

As the rest of his friends went up to Patch, Miles complained bitterly, " Why do you even CARE?! You still get to beat up criminals every day, so you're still all doing what you like best. Why would it matter to any of you what I'm doing?! " Patch exclaimed, " He was making us look like IDIOTS! Of COURSE we hate that self-righteous hypocrite! Do you know how many of thefts of ours have been foiled by his Sweepbots when they shot stun gas at us? Without speaking of the times that they put us to sleep when we weren't done breaking the legs of criminals yet! So they could keep breaking the law, remember? Weren't you furious?! "

Miles replied, " He hasn't done THAT in MONTHS. In fact, I convinced him to stop! " " Only because you're his favorite snitch! " Patch complained. Alicia exclaimed, " Leave him alone! Stop it, you two! " getting between them. Miles said looking depressed, " He started it. I wouldn't have said ANYTHING! " and Alicia said in exasperation with her arms crossed, " I asked Patch to leave it alone, but he went and bothered you anyways, so I might as well ask now. Why'd you do it, Miles? I thought we were friends! "

Miles looked sad just from hearing that, with the last two sentences tugging at his heartstrings, which most people didn't know he had, and he had to make an effort to justify himself so he'd stop feeling like he did something wrong. " We are! It's not really anything against YOU! I would've done this even if you approved of it! Which I wish you did, " Miles said sadly.

Boomer questioned angrily, " Kid, we've put up with your little quirks for a long time, some would say longer than any other gang should, and this is really testing us! " and since that opening sentence only made Miles look scared. Alicia said, " Great diplomacy there. What he means to say is, we're NOT gonna HURT you! Or anything else! I'll make SURE of it. We just wanna know why you're acting at ODDS with us. "

" You'd never understand. Why bother, you'll never listen! " Miles dismissed, getting increasingly annoyed at being treated like the bad guy. Boomer remarked, " GREAT communication skills there. Just TELL us already! We're sick of asking why you did it! " Boomer had been acting unusually impatient with him all day and it had been adding up for Miles, and he was caught between wanting to stay cautious to avoiding provoking something even worse and outright blowing up at him for daring to start being rude to him, but he wanted to avoid making things worse, because he thought if he got angry, he'd just look unsympathetic and ruin any point he'd try to get across. But avoiding looking resentful was easier said than done.

Miles complained, " All you've ever done is insult Kintobor, so why would I think you'd ever be open-minded enough to give him a chance? Sure, he did things that annoyed you, but most of the time, it's only after you provoked him! Granted, I hate when he doesn't stay out of our business with criminals, too, but the rest I can understand! Wouldn't YOU wanna stop people from destroying your robots? He's a nice guy who's never even insulted me before, especially not about being a MUTANT! Who CARES, why are you even wasting your TIME with him?! HE'S not a criminal, is he?! I-I don't understand why, when there's a slow day, you can't do something ELSE, like go to the arcade, or get a punching bag to punch! Boomer has his engineering, THAT'S a worthwhile hobby! "

" Thanks, but sucking up to me won't get you out of trouble. You still went behind our backs and started giving information to our worst enemy! Again, all those thefts he butted in to keep us from doing, all those times he humiliated us with his robots, and you don't have a grudge against him for that? For US? I know he's being nice to YOU, he HAS to be or someone like YOU would never TRUST him, but still! " Boomer complained. Miles glared at him in frustration with his fists clenched and thought of them as nothing but selfish brats, feeling entitled to get away with their thefts and everything else, and was frustrated that an argument he couldn't find any holes in was failing to get through to them, at least from what he was seeing of Patch and Boomer's annoyed expressions because Alicia looked more concerned and confused than anything. " You can understand, can't you, Mom? I-I mean, Alicia? " Miles asked looking desperate.

" I-I can see where you're COMING FROM, with the ' nice person ' there. I know what you're like, Miles, any time someone's actually nice to you and treats you with common decency and respect, you don't know how to react! Nice people are so rare in your life that they've become a nice novelty. But just because they're acting nice to you doesn't mean they're actually g- " Alicia replied carefully, and when Miles started to predict what she was going to say at the end, he ranted, " Yes it DOES! Why CAN'T it?! I came to him feeling absolutely miserable because I was CONVINCED he'd be terrified of me and never even give me a chance to talk to him, and when he saw me drying my eyes, you know what that ' hypocrite ' did? He comforted me and wanted me to feel better! He even offered me a HUG! How can you possibly think he's too good to be true?! I was expecting him to just call for help and signal Buns, not feel sorry for me that fast! All I did was say sorry and he immediately forgave me! I don't trust people very easily EITHER, but how is that not someone I can trust?! "

His friends were silent for two seconds trying to take it all in, looking stunned at what he said and the fact that he was yelling at them for once, and Alicia stammered before saying nervously, " W-Well, uh… So he has a soft spot for kids. We have one for YOU and people call us monsters. And how do you know he's not MANIPULATING you? "

Miles looked sad as Alicia warned him, " You don't think he'd say anything he could to get a double agent out of us? Maybe he's lying about all of that compassion, you don't know! You're not inside his head! I don't want anyone just taking advantage of you! And I don't think I'm comfortable with you feeding him information like that. Not to mention you stealing from Boomer's lab! " Boomer looked shocked and she said as Miles looked scared, " Come on, who else could it be? We already have a double agent against us AND one who knows to erase the camera footage of himself! "

Boomer complained, " You're giving him my weapons? What'd I ever do to you?! " Miles looked sad and said as he started standing on top of his piano from backing away from him, " I'm sorry, but I wanted a peace offering so he'd trust me and he asked me for some more materials and it just snowballed from there! It was nothing against you, I promise! If it's THAT big a deal, I'll stop doing it! "

Boomer complained, " I work hard on those, you know! And knowing him and his ' no weapons ' policy, even those ray guns that cause just non-lethal burns – THANKS for that no killing policy by the way – of course he'd DISMANTLE those things of mine for materials! He had no right to take those from me! YOU didn't! Don't tell me I have to ban you from the lab! I liked having a lab assistant, you know! And don't tell anyone I said that. "

" At least he won't use them against any of you! He doesn't wanna HURT ANY of you! What kind of an enemy is that? He STILL restricts Buns to just stun gas and hardening foam! He's clearly holding back against you, and you won't even do the same! Aside from being non-lethal which, again, I'm thankful for, but you're only doing that because of me, " Miles reasoned looking upset.

Getting yelled at by people who normally refrained from upsetting him was getting too much for him to handle, but the last thing he wanted to do was let himself start crying in front of them. That was just what he was afraid of, giving Boomer and Patch a reason to complain about him as a crybaby to his face at the worst possible time instead of comforting him like they always did. It'd be the perfect excuse for him to turn against them, but they were expecting him to show that moment of weakness, and he didn't want to prove them right. He wanted to look tough, or at least try to, by standing up for himself and explaining his point of view the best he could. So even if he felt his eyes well up with them earlier, he refused to let himself cry. He'd rather act angry instead and let all of it out, because there was no better time to do so.

He sighed in exasperation and complained, " It's hopeless, isn't it? You'll never understand! He's just some evil demon to you and that's all! " Alicia replied in annoyance while still keeping her cool, " Don't talk to us like we're idiots, we KNOW he's got a reputation as a nice guy. Why else would he be a doctor for people he doesn't even know? Doesn't mean he's not inconveniencing us by butting in. We have a reason to resent him for it, you know! We have a right to! Now, how did you even get in contact with him? You never leave our side, you're always in front of one of us being supervised, so, did you sneak out at night? Or when we thought you were in the bathroom? And hey, HOW'D you get past his FORCE FIELD? "

Miles looked scared at the last sentence and exclaimed, " I'm NOT doing that for you! EVER! You don't get it, do you?! He doesn't DESERVE to be treated like a criminal! I could understand if he mugged someone or sold drugs or tried to get a girl to kiss her against her will, but he's not LIKE the people we beat up! Yes, I snuck out at night, because I was sick of feeling like a monster! I wanted to get something off my chest and get him to understand me properly! I couldn't TAKE it anymore! I was up to like 9 at night because I was so miserable! And that's EARLY for me! And now he's getting me to have GOOD moods! Since when does THAT happen?! I'm sorry you're upset about this, but I'm doing what I think is right! Just like YOU do when you beat up criminals. "

Boomer asked, " So how'd you get past his force field? " irritating him because he missed his point entirely. Miles said with his arms crossed, " I'm not telling you! What, so you can make an invention to replicate what I did to it? I'm not THAT easily tricked! Can we stop fighting already? I can't stand this kind of tense atmosphere, in a place where I THOUGHT I was finally safe from it! " Alicia complained, " See, this is why I wanted to talk to Miles ALONE! Thanks for listening, guys! " and glared at Patch with her arms crossed. Miles then muttered angrily, " He's more of a traitor than I am. "

" What was that? YOU'RE one to talk! " Patch complained. Miles couldn't help but look hurt feeling ganged up on as Boomer called out, " Yeah, you're in no position to judge right now! Sure he disobeyed her order once, but at least he wouldn't outright betray us! "

Miles' eye twitched and he snapped, " He tried to send Sonic to another zone, didn't he?! Sure we ended up betraying him eventually anyways but BACK THEN, you wanted him as the top dog again and he went behind EVERYONE'S backs to do that! He stole from Boomer's lab to outright KICK OUT one of the members of the team! I'd never do that! Not to mention he betrayed some OTHER people back on Mobius Prime! He poisoned two people, one of whom looked like his own FATHER and because he was his Prime zone version, HE was probably a NICE GUY! Not an abusive jerk like HE was! How could you trust someone who acted like that after he used to have a perfect track record? I'm surprised he hasn't tried to poison ALICIA if he wants a throne so badly! "

Alicia looked stunned and nervous, and so did Patch because he was scared of the consequences; while they didn't want to admit it, his speech was pretty convincing, even if they did find it unusual that he was siding with the Freedom Fighters. He continued ranting, " She still hasn't married him and made him KING, so what's taking him so long? I can't TRUST him with anyone's food and drinks anymore! I don't WANT to be like this with him but I can't HELP it after what he did! At least when Antoine was here, he never made me uncomfortable! At least I could always trust him and so could WE, because he never did ANYTHING we'd disapprove of! He even participated when we thought we were trying to kill Scourge! As did I by the way, the same person you're trying to call disloyal! I have nightmares of that, so thanks for that! "

As everyone stared at him in shock trying to think of something to say, he took some deep breaths panting trying to calm himself down, since he had been ranting so fast that he wasn't stopping to catch his breath as much and he was starting to realize that he had lost his temper. Patch was struck speechless, shocked that the same kid who held his hand in the dark and wanted him as a replacement brother figure would end up turning on him, and would wait so long to tell him about it. He couldn't think of a response that wouldn't make him show weakness by sounding hurt, as what he was thinking, " _I thought I was your brother, _" would imply that he was disappointed that it wasn't the case anymore, when he always just played it off as him humoring Miles. He also didn't want to make him cry with such a comeback, as it wouldn't be a real reward for making him feel guilty for it.

Alicia finally broke the tense silence saying, " So you have a problem with him? You don't trust him anymore? Well I don't know if you're expecting me to kick him out, but he's in the gang with me, whether you like it or not, and he'll just get mad if we distance him from us, and if you don't trust him NOW, you don't wanna see him want revenge on us because of you! And I KNOW you can't handle us doing that to YOU! Kintobor or not, if you really stopped being so attached to us, you'd just ditch us already. You're not the type to lie and pretend you like someone and want to be with them when no part of you does. Or maybe now you ARE, I don't know you anymore! I've never seen this side of you, defending our worst enemy! Were you really pretending to be our friend for months just because he talked you into betraying us? Was it all a lie? "

Miles ranted making them start looking ashamed, " NO! What don't you understand?! Why can't I like a perfectly nice guy AND like fighting criminals with you at the same time? That doesn't mean I don't love you! You're still the closest I ever had to a family! Yeah, and _some_ people would say that's just sad because you're basically a criminal gang, but I DEFEND you guys! I'm still loyal, and Kintobor KNOWS it! And he sighs and leaves it alone! That's how understanding he is! Just like I thought you were understanding of me because you always put up with me, and I thought that was the one thing that made you better than everyone else! And I guess the fact that you're not all trying to kill me right now proves it hasn't changed, but the POINT is, ALL you have to do is stop bothering this guy and leave him alone, and life will go on as normal! We can just go on like this never happened. "

Miles continued looking bitter as his friends looked sad, " You'll still get to use me for beating up criminals, right? Isn't that all that matters? Remember, ever since I learned about my powers, Ally and Boomer haven't gotten injured ONCE. I've ALWAYS defended you! Every single time a criminal snuck up on you, I froze them in a block of ice! Even before I knew I had these powers, I still used my tails and staff on them! I was ALWAYS watching your backs, and now I don't know if you'll be watching MINE! You all want to punish me now, don't you? After everything I did for you! " Alicia apologized, " Sorry we doubted you. I know you still care about us deep down, but we're just trying to make SENSE of this! " while Patch glared at her for speaking for him.

Still not meaning to rant at length or make any big speeches, Miles complained, " I don't feel right about being IN this position, but you drove me to it! You're the ones who picked him as your enemy! He would've never hurt you! Ally, you said I was the real leader around here, right? Well if that was true, then why did you make a plan without my say so? Just stop wasting time with him already and get something better to do! Why can't you go to the arcade instead and have some REAL fun, or at least go whale on some punching bags or something? You think I'm the real leader, well let's see if that order ever gets followed! I never thought I'd have the courage to even SAY that! I'm not a leader type and you probably know it! I'm a follower and that's why I follow YOU! You think I LIKE being seen as a traitor? I'm disgusted to even call myself that! This isn't who I am! I get DRIVEN TO it by my own friends because they're making big mistakes! Ever since Scourge started bothering us again, and remember, I tried to HELP you against him! "

He looked sad unable to hide how he felt guilty as he said, " He was my BROTHER, he RAISED me for a year, he was the first person who was NICE to me and I betrayed him for YOU because you all decided to hate him! He told me that he wanted Patch to LIKE him and be a good friend! Do you think he would've mistreated him the way he did if he got his way? Of course not. He wanted ALL of you to like him and we'd have no problem with him now if you did! " His friends couldn't help but sympathize with that speech, even if they were frustrated at him nagging them to stop bothering Kintobor at first.

With the wrong button of his being pressed, Patch yelled, " Are you saying it's MY fault my patch isn't just for show?! HE'S the one who did it! He's the one who should be ashamed! Obviously his days of caring about ME are LONG over! But whatever, defend your best friend! Obviously that's not me anymore! " and stormed out of the room, fed up. Miles called after him, " You don't think I KNOW that?! I hate that he did that TOO! But no, I'm the bad guy! How could I ever have a point?! I'm just a KID, right?! "

Alicia said with a placating gesture, " That's not it, we KNOW you have good points, okay? It's just hard to admit it right now! " Boomer told her, " Ally, stop speaking for us. " " Excuse me?!... I'm the princess, aren't I? Who are you ordering around? " she replied, being no different than him by speaking without thinking because she was frustrated.

As Boomer called her a control freak who always bossed everyone around, Miles looked horrified thinking, " _I'm tearing the gang apart! Or turning them against HER anyways. What am I going to do? This isn't right, this is going horribly wrong!_ " and said, " Okay, I get it, I made you mad, but why can't you leave HER ALONE? She didn't do anything to you! "

Alicia smiled in relief and looked at him saying, " Thank you Miles, " and Boomer complained, " Yeah, yeah. Is he always gonna talk like a goody-goody now? Like he's been injected with Good Tails DNA? You're not better than us when you do most of what we do anyways! And that Kintobor betrayal was just recent! " Miles looked hurt, and said while hating the use of that insult, " What's wrong with being a decent person, or at least TRYING to be? I'm starting to think none of you even like me for who I am. I've NEVER been the monster people think I am and I thought you all knew that! ' The no killing policy? ' Which practically anyone else on the globe has TOO! At least when I'm not involved. "

" Exactly, what happened to wanting revenge and being the most badass kid I ever met? " Boomer complained. Miles replied unhappily, " Nothing did! I still don't like or trust people as a whole, I still like giving people who make jerks of themselves what they DESERVE, and I'm STILL a more powerful fighter than anyone on the planet. Why talk like I've CHANGED so much? I haven't changed at all! But just because I defend a nice person, you all act like I've turned into a demon, and you look at me like I grew a third tail! "

Boomer remarked in exasperation rolling his eyes, " ENOUGH with the mutant references, we're NOT your bullies! In fact, you're bullying us by betraying us, aren't you? " As Alicia stared nervously at the mess he'd gotten himself into feeling like a deer in the headlights, Miles was especially incensed by being called a bully and snapped, " You AND PATCH were bullying KINTOBOR! And he's not even a mutant! And you ACCEPTED ME for being DIFFERENT from all of you, so I thought YOU were MY friends! Why can't you just accept me for who I am?! " Alicia reassured, " I do! " trying to calm him down as Boomer looked annoyed trying to ignore that he sympathized with him, and Miles yelled,

" That ' betraying ' won't happen anymore if you leave him alone, and without that, nothing's changed! I'm still the same person and will act the same way, and our lives won't be missing anything if we stop wasting our time bothering him! " Boomer walked out of the room saying, " Fine, I get it already! I guess you need some time alone. And I'm also guessing that Miss Softie over here won't even PUNISH you for this! "

Miles looked at her nervously as she looked at him with her arms crossed, and since the guilt from betraying them was really overwhelming him by both Patch and Boomer storming off on him for the first time in his life, he immediately said, " I'll take being punished at this point, okay? I'll do your chores, I'll give the chef a break, I'm fine with helping you all out to reward you for putting up with me! No one else in the entire planet would do that for me for so long! " as he felt his eyes well up with tears by the middle of the second sentence. Alicia muttered, " Aside from Kintobor apparently, " and since she figured he just got worried by it, she commented, " but it's still nice to hear all that. "

" I'm sorry you're all upset! And I'm especially sorry about disappointing YOU! You know I care about you, right? You know I appreciate you defending me! I thought you'd just yell at me and tell me off! Just go ahead and tell me what to do to make it up to you. I'll do anything! " Miles apologized on the verge of tears, with the bottled-up stress and sadness from earlier weighing down on him now that he was in front of the one who was the most soft on him. He always felt like Patch and Boomer just tolerated him, with Buns doing it the least of all, but Alicia, and Scourge, were always his best friends in the gang.

" Anything? I doubt that. What about smashing your phone? That'll never happen. You don't wanna disappoint your new best friend! Or even father, " Alicia snarked, trying to feel better about the mess he got into by relieving stress snarking at him about it. She hoped it wasn't scaring him into thinking that she had turned on him too, but she couldn't help it. " I-I, what?! Father?! D-Don't tell Scourge that! It'd break his heart! " Miles blurted out, not sure how to feel about her last word, while Alicia was mildly annoyed at him still being loyal to Scourge. He thought, " _I suppose she's right, but, that's so weird. He's a human!_ " and he muttered, " Maybe more like a GRANDFATHER since he's like 55… " which only caused Alicia to snark as Miles' eyes welled up with tears,

" You even know how old he is? Do you tell him what you had for supper too? " He nodded looking embarrassed and she continued in exasperation, " Look, Miles, I get it, okay? You have the lowest self-esteem out of anyone I've known, and I get it, 'cause people treated you like DIRT. So you went to him because you can't feel confident and proud of the way you live your life or who you are. I know. It's not because you're this awful traitor, it's because you wanted to do the right thing, 'cause you're a softie who cares about that for some reason. And I wish Patch and Boomer hadn't found out about this! I KNEW they'd make a big deal out of it and I'm impressed that you didn't start to cry after the way they treated you! But you REALLY put me in a HARD place from being patient with you! I'm in a difficult position here and I can't exactly banish Patch from the team without consequences! "

Tears slipped out of his eyes the minute she even slightly raised her voice when she was being compassionate and understanding to him before that, and she sighed and hugged him before anything else could happen, holding him in a protective embrace in the hopes of keeping his loyalty. She told him, " No, I didn't turn on you! And while it looks like the rest of them did, you need to relax, because just because they're annoyed at you for something doesn't mean they hate you! It doesn't erase everything you did for them and their gratitude and respect for it, and the fact that we all looked ashamed when you reminded us of what a great friend you were PROVES it! Just, maybe you need to take a break for a while. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right? Maybe Boomer and Patch just need some time to cool off. I'll tell them I gave you a vacation, okay? "

She kissed the top of Miles' head as he silently cried into her shoulder, wishing she couldn't feel it becoming wet and figure him out, and she continued reluctantly, " So you can go spend some time with your ' buddy ' and get a break from them if they glare at you too much, and I'll talk some SENSE into them because they need to know that treating you like THAT is only gonna GUARANTEE you'll leave us, and I know you're too loyal to us to do that right now. But I don't want that to change. So, I GUESS I can stop bothering the old man. After all, he's too much of a wuss to really EARN us hating him compared to what a jerk Scourge was last time! You're right, he didn't hurt us, and it's not like he's a total douche, either. I get it, he's a nice guy. It's not like I'LL ever see it. "

Since he wanted to give her the thanks she deserved, Miles whimpered, " Thanks, " with a choked up voice, humiliated at sounding like that and crying in front of her again. He figured it was worth it because at least he gave her the credit for being so kind. Alicia stroked his head and said with a sweet smile, " You didn't really think I'D turn on you, did you? Come on! I raised you! " She patted his back, let go of him, and since he was still crying, she told him, " Come on, you need to take a nap. We'll go to the couch together so you can calm down, and you can keep your door locked if you're scared of Patch. Though really I think he's just an idiot. I mean, he did FAIL at that big plan after all. "

He sighed as he started following her, wishing in his head, " _Is that the only problem you HAVE with it?! Would it kill you to care about some people you don't know?_ " and he was frustrated that he couldn't just say that to her because he was lucky she was showing him compassion at all, and he didn't want to push away the last person in the castle who was giving him a chance. But it was starting to look like he'd have to leave her anyways, and he only started sobbing from the thought, because he knew that Sally would never be that affectionate with him. He thought she'd be too awkward about it and always see him as just an evil twin.

He thought, " _But would the way the Freedom Fighters treat me with them be any WORSE than THAT? I already had most of my own FRIENDS yell at me! How could it get any worse? How could it FEEL any worse? Other than Ally turning on me. If she did that, I… I would…_ " and when they got to the couch at last, he hugged her when she laid down and he burst into tears, and she covered him over with the blankets and hugged back, and sighed and muttered under her breath, " Troublemaker… " something he wished he hadn't heard her say.

Fortunately for him stopping the Sally comparison for the moment, she kissed him on the head again, and said, " But I love you anyways. Even if you do have issues. " Miles replied with a smile, " I love you too, Mo-ma'am, " and tried to enjoy the nap while it would last. He didn't know how much longer he'd get to enjoy it. Even after he'd take his vacation, could he get this again?

He wasn't even sure if he'd want to come back. He couldn't imagine his friends WOULD cool down on him, especially not after he spent a vacation with Kintobor, and he was worried that he would turn into a nervous wreck having to live with and fight alongside Patch and Boomer after that. And worst of all, what if something happened to Alicia? " I hope I didn't give Patch any ideas, " he said with a choked up voice, and Alicia immediately reassured him, " I'll warn the chef not to let Patch get near the food, and if Patch ever tried to endanger me I'd smack him upside the head! Among other things. But I don't think we have that to worry about. Otherwise he would've done that to me the minute he got back. "

After they had their nap, Miles was given two suitcases and violin case by Alicia, who was smiling to reassure him, and he packed up all of his belongings, at least the ones that could fit. Since he had the ability to summon ice platforms with tornadoes below them keeping them afloat, holding those cases wasn't difficult for him at all because he didn't have to hold them at all. They simply floated beside him as he flew out of the window of the castle and all the way to Kintobor's base. He had a depressed expression as he felt like he was running away, even though he was doing it with Alicia's permission, which was the most ironic thing of all. As he shook his hand to melt a temporary hole in his force field, he realized that he really was going to run away.


	3. Chapter 3

Miles knocked on Kintobor's door, and told him as he stood in front of him with the tornadoes beside him, " Okay, I'm here, " having already called him about Alicia's idea for his " vacation " beforehand. Kintobor stepped aside to give him room reassuring him, " It's okay, kiddo, I made sure there'd be a guest room for you. And you can stay there as long as you want! "

When he put his briefcases in the room, Kintobor put his hand on his shoulder, Miles sighed heavily, and admitted with his head hung low and his eyes downcast, " How could I even come BACK? What reason do I have? Sure, I'll miss Alicia, but, the rest of them will never forgive me, will they? What if they just keep being annoyed and impatient with me? The Prime Antoine was just as willing to give me hugs as SHE is. Maybe he'd fill the void! But trying to ask to join his group won't be easy! I've had nightmares about it, and even when I daydream about it, I always end up thinking of the worst-case scenarios! But if I come back home, I'll be crossing a burnt bridge either WAY! But even if I do get accepted into their group, what if my friends come to Mobius Prime eventually and I have to face them?! It'll be the ultimate betrayal! "

Kintobor sat in front of him and gave him a hug, reassuring him, " Then you'll deal with them the way you deal with every other enemy, by freezing them in blocks of ice. You could even muffle them with it so they wouldn't be able to talk to you! I know it'll be hard on you, but you'll get through it just like you get through everything else. I know it won't be easy for you to apologize to them. But if you really want me to, I'll vouch for you. I'll come with you for a little while and tell them there's nothing to worry about! "

Miles' eyes welled up with tears of joy that he fought back hard, saying with a smile full of hope, " You'd do that for me?! " Kintobor let go and said with an encouraging smile, " Sure, I will! It'll only take a couple minutes! You don't have to deal with it all on your own. I'll tell them all about how you've been helping me! "

After a silence, Miles then looked depressed and bitter with himself, and said sarcastically, " Yeah, tell them about what a traitor I've been to my friends. That'll make them trust me, won't it? " It didn't help that a part of him was thinking, " _That's too good to be true. Do I even deserve to have it be that easy? To just have Kintobor come and vouch for me?_ " Then he said, " What if they think I was just manipulating you? "

Kintobor reassured him, " Don't be silly, they'd never say that! Why would they ever think you'd be evil and untrustworthy after you spent all those months with me helping me when you didn't have to? " Miles looked sad and ashamed, and said, " Do I even deserve your help with this? I know you think I do because I helped you so much, but, they just see me as an evil twin! They're gonna hate me the minute I show up. Y-You don't know what it's like to have a hard time trusting people! It's paralyzing! Your logic is perfectly sound, but, just the idea of going up to them after all those years where they thought I was just a monster, it's terrifying, okay? "

He sat down on his new bed, and Kintobor told him, " Would it be easier if I talked to them first without you? " Miles nodded, took a deep breath and sighed, and said, " The sooner I go there, the BETTER. The sooner I get myself stuck in their zone, the better so I can stop putting it off! I-It's like taking off a band-aid. But they'd all try to beat me up the SECOND they saw me show up in their base! They wouldn't even give me a chance to talk before hitting me! I don't feel ready to just go to their base unannounced! " As Buns started to walk into the room without him noticing, she looked surprised and sad when he continued,

" I guess the real reason I'm so impatient is that I feel like punishing myself. I deserve it after I betrayed everyone who cared about me, first Scourge and now Ally too! " His voice cracked at the end, Kintobor sighed and hugged him on his bed, and he reluctantly said, " Come on, kiddo, it's going to be okay. I'll get the globeposts ready. Try to stop crying, okay? "

Miles said sadly, " Can I at least spend the rest of the day here, so I can pull myself together? We can leave after dinner, " and Kintobor replied, " Alright, then. I was looking forward to teaching you how to cook my favorite beef stew, anyways. " Miles' eyes lit up with excitement at hearing that, and he said while holding himself a little closer to him, " Thanks! " seconds before the hug finally ended, as Kintobor ruffled his hair with a smile.

Kintobor said reluctantly, " So, if you really want us to do this separately, then you can use that zone-link generator you gave me from Boomer's lab to warp to Mobius Prime and I'll use the globeposts. They'll trust me right away going into their base, like you said. "

Miles nodded, and hours later in Kintobor's lab, Kintobor got the globeposts working and Miles pressed buttons on Boomer's zone-link generator to generate a yellow portal showing him the same mountain cave where Mammoth Mogul had drained Turbo Tails of his magic for months, which was now empty. This was a good thing for him when he jumped into it, as that way he could have a place to be alone and try to pull himself together again, full of paralyzing fear from dreading how he could be treated by people he wanted to become his friends.

He knew that Kintobor could do a great job convincing them, but the fact that the logical part of his brain knew things could be fine didn't do anything to make him feel better, and that was the most frustrating thing for him of all, causing him to throw some lightning bolts at his zone-link generator in frustration, shouting, " I'm NEVER going back! EVER! AGAIN! " all the while completely unaware that the minute he did that, one of Rotor's devices in Freedom HQ detected a massive spike in energy coming from his exact location.

This was just after Kintobor walked into Freedom HQ through a sudden portal generated by the globeposts, and the chaos energy detector detected Miles' lightning right before Rotor and Tails could react to him. An alarm went off from it and Rotor exclaimed, " What the?! Since when does lightning hit the same place that many times?! I thought we were DONE with Ixis Naugus! " Tails then said, " What, is Khan throwing a temper tantrum? After coming all the way HERE from the Dragon Kingdom? You'd think he'd be happier after we got Sally deroboticized last month. "

" Deroboticized? " Kintobor commented looking concerned, and Rotor said, " Long story, and you DON'T wanna hear it! Sorry to ignore you, but that thing was going off. And it's detecting the energy at the SAME cave where Sonic found Mammoth Mogul draining Tails of chaos energy a WHILE ago. We need to send Sonic to investigate! "

He pressed a button and got Nicole on the screen from New Mobotropolis and told her, " Nicole, my chaos energy detector just detected seven lightning strikes in a ROW at the same cave where Mammoth Mogul was found in, and I know, he's a casino owner now, but that's still cause for concern! You need to warn Sonic! "

Nicole, looking confused and alarmed the whole time, said, " Oh, okay! Why's Kintobor there? Should I go get Sonic first or… " Kintobor smiled nervously and said, " It's a LONG story. You should tell Sonic to come here first. I know what the source of that energy is, and Sonic's so quick that he'll get here seconds after you tell him to. You should contact the rest of the gang, too. And don't worry, it's NOTHING to be scared of. "

Nicole, Tails and Rotor said in confusion, " It's NOT? " he replied, " Not at ALL. In fact he's more scared of you than you are of him, " and after a brief silence, Nicole reluctantly said, " Alright, " and warped away, doing what he said.

Seconds later, Sonic ran into the lab in a blue blur and stopped in front of them, and asked, " What's going on? " and Kintobor said with a smile, " Good news! Remember Miles? Well, a couple of months ago he did something that I'm surprised he built up the courage to do! "

Much to their surprise and confusion, he explained sadly, " Late at night, I could've sworn I heard someone crying in front of my bedroom door, and the minute I opened it up, he told me that he was sorry! I just wanted him to feel better, and I told him to come in and gave him a hug, and he started telling me that he was never comfortable with bothering me with his friends. He was just doing what he was told, you know how peer pressure is for kids, and they were all too cynical to believe I was actually a good person, and wanted revenge on me since my Sweepbots kept stopping their thefts, and for a while they had him convinced that I was a hypocrite. He has a VERY hard time trusting people in GENERAL, so it was easy to manipulate him against people. But eventually he couldn't keep ignoring the fact that I wasn't doing or saying anything to justify hating me, and he couldn't take it anymore! So he came all the way to my base at 9:00 at night wanting to make it up to me! I think it was just a spur of the moment thing since it was so late. "

Everyone looked stunned at what they were hearing, with Tails having his arms crossed with his eyes wide open in surprise, and Rotor thinking, " _I had no idea he had anything else to him…_ " while Nicole was both worried and curious. " And since he still had a lot of attachment to his friends, or at least Alicia, and he wasn't ready for his friends getting mad at him for joining me, he wanted it all to be a secret, and so he became my double agent, calling me with a phone I invented to warn me every time his friends plotted against me. But eventually they found out about it, and now he can't trust them not to hurt him anymore. How can he live with them after that? "

Tails tried not to look like he felt sorry for him, but his expression gave it away as he started to have some hope, and he was torn between believing in it and being suspicious. The others weren't that different, and Nicole was both surprised and cautiously optimistic. Kintobor felt awkward for Miles' sake as he revealed, " So he said that, well, I'm not sure if he wants ME to tell you all this… but… he didn't want to be reduced to just me and Buns after years of having a whole group of friends there for him. It would feel like a downgrade. So he thinks it's about time he starts making it up to YOU. "

This surprised them the most of all, and he could tell right away, and explained looking worried, " And he needed me to tell you that for him! I tried to reassure him, but the kid's just terrified of being told no! I don't wanna think about how, well, I guess he could handle it, I mean he's already gotten used to helping me out and I already told him he could move in with me, but if he was told no, it'd break his heart. One of you needs to go talk to him. He's in that cave trying to work up the nerve to face you again. You don't HAVE to like him. But could you at least humor him? " " Just leave it to me, " Sonic said, while trying to sound optimistic, and he took off before anyone else could say a word. Kintobor said, " I hope that's a good sign. So what do I do now? "

Meanwhile, Miles panted in exhaustion from throwing lightning and then laid on the cave floor with tears going down his face, desperately wishing he would feel better. He hated having the kind of social anxiety that made him end up being like that, thinking of himself as a nervous wreck, and called himself, " Pathetic, " as he tried to get himself to stop crying, not only from sheer dread that he'd be treated coldly and suspiciously, but from all of the combined guilt and insecurity he had over the years starting to weigh down on him and overwhelm him, as he started to get into a repetitive train of thought demonstrating to him why he might not be worthy of their forgiveness and why they might never give it to him.

The clouds darkened and expanded over the sky, it started to rain heavily in a torrential downpour with thunder booming, His emotions got the better of him, as his power over lightning and the weather made the weather become just as bad as he felt, which had been a defense mechanism to discourage people on his island from searching for him outside in such rainy weather. The rain was so heavy that it was as loud as it could get. As he continued to cry while trying to hold himself in a hug on the cave's floor, Miles couldn't help but imagine the worst-case scenario.

He imagined that all of the Freedom Fighters that Kintobor was trying to convince about his good nature were calling him delusional about it, that Tails was warning him, " There's no way my evil twin could have any sort of conscience! We know Scourge, and we know Patch! What if he just manipulated you into THINKING he was good when the only reason he worked for you was to get BACK at his friends? He could've started betraying them for a SELFISH reason too! What if that's all just part of a long, dedicated plot to get you to defend him so he can get to US? So he could try to kill me when I least expect it? If he's a genius like me, then why wouldn't he make a plan like that, why wouldn't he plan ahead? "

He imagined Sally saying to Kintobor, " You don't have to lie to us for your own safety! If he's threatening you to make you say this, just tell us and we'll deal with him! " And then, he imagined Kintobor saying, " Maybe you're right! Maybe he was lying, " which made him feel the worst of all. He growled and smacked the hard rocky cave floor with his tails in frustration, and cried out and grimaced at the pain as hitting that hard surface bruised them, and cut them on some of the rocks, and he admitted, " I deserved it, anyways. "

Just then, he heard a familiar whooshing sound as some wind rushed into his cave and a blue blur stopped in front of its entrance, and he heard Sonic say, " What's wrong, Miles? " and opened his eyes seeing him through the fog of his tears. He struggled to sit up from the rocky floor which didn't feel good to push against with his hands, and made sure the first words he blurted out would be, " I'm SORRY! " He was at least grateful his voice wasn't cracking as much as he thought it would.

Sonic, feeling even more sorry for him, walked up to him carefully and sat down in front of him as Miles apologized frantically, " I didn't mean anything by it when I threw you into the portal with Scourge, it was mostly just against SCOURGE, and I was just following orders! I tried to enjoy it by thinking that you were almost no different from him! But it didn't take long for me to regret it. You're probably a better person than he is. That's why I told Ally to let your friends get the portal back so SOON, and I was proud of that at least. I hope I didn't hurt your, uh, upset you… "

Sonic was uncomfortable with him panicking apologizing to him, and despite hesitating because Miles was Tails' evil twin, he ended up giving him a hug which Miles surprised him by gladly returning, and told him with a nervous smile, " It's okay. I'm so proud of you! Kintobor told me everything! Come on, you need to get to my base. There's some other people you need to talk to. " Miles stammered, " A-And Tails? Is he mad? How will he react, how will he treat me? "

" You don't need to worry about him. He's confused, sure, but he'll be polite, I'll make sure of that, " Sonic said, and then he scooped him up into his arms by the back of the legs, which startled him, but he let him do it with a smile afterwards, reminding himself of the good old days with Scourge as Sonic said, " Hang on tight, lil' buddy! " and ran out of the cave with him at sonic speed, heading straight for his base as he ran around the mountain path to get down it.

After Sonic got back to Freedom HQ, he gently put Miles down in front of the door and opened it, putting his arm around him to both reassure him and try to keep him from running away. He walked inside with him where Rotor, Nicole, Kintobor and Tails were there to stare at him in confusion. Wanting to distract him from it, Sonic told him, " Now first of all, you should take off your shirt, 'cause it's dripping wet from all that rain. I'll make sure it gets put in a dryer for you. " Miles nodded, said, " This'll keep the spikes from hurting anyone, " and pressed a button on the inside of each of them that retracted the bracelets' spikes, bending them around them in a metal band. With that, he took off his red shirt and handed it to Sonic, who ran off with it, put it in a dryer, and came back to him seconds later.

" Come on, lie on the couch and try to relax, " and Miles nervously did what he was told, confused that he was allowed to do that. As Sonic pulled the blankets on the couch over him, he couldn't stand the fact that everyone was staring at him, and he kept his eyes closed to avoid seeing the glares, glares that didn't exist, as Rotor, Nicole, Tails and Kintobor simply looked at him with concern, instead.

Just as Sally, Bunnie and Antoine went inside, having gotten there so fast from hanging onto Bunnie when she was flying with her leg rockets, Sonic reassured him, " No one's mad at you, okay? We're all pretty proud of you for getting a conscience, " and instinctively ruffled his hair. He was about to apologize for embarrassing him, but stopped when he saw him smile. That sentence gave his surprised and confused friends the gist of it so they'd understand, with only Sally looking apprehensive. " And no one's gonna hurt you, either, as long as you don't hurt us, " Sonic reassured him.

Miles said sadly, " That _spindash_ hurt. I wasn't even going to DO anything! I was looking away from them all because I hated what he was doing! I was hoping Patch would fail, like that stupid plan he did earlier, I didn't want him to hurt EITHER of them! " wanting to vent. Antoine smiled right away as Bunnie looked confused, and the only thing keeping him from being a lot happier was his pity of him. The only thing that kept him from going over to ask for a hug was that he knew Sonic was busy talking to him.

Sonic was briefly confused at him referring to something in the past as if it was immediately relevant, and then replied sadly as everyone in the room looked sympathetic, " I didn't know that back then. Sorry. I wasn't even that comfortable with it, myself! I don't wanna hurt someone who looks like my little buddy! Why did you think I just made ya dizzy after you hit me with your tails? "

Miles said with a wistful smile, " I did think it was sweet of you to hold back, once I thought about it, " and looked unhappy before saying, " but all I was thinking at the time was that you threw my friends into toxic water! That's why I did that! They could've DROWNED, they were lucky they could swim to get out of it, and that the octopods weren't doing anything, and I'm convinced that's what made Buns get NIDS, 'cause she was coughing a lot more than Ally, and she was never the same after that! "

Sonic looked scared as everyone in the room looked at him in shock. Sally asked, " Toxic water? " with her arms crossed, and Miles stammered, " Uh, did I get you in trouble? I-I'm SORRY, I thought you told them everything! Already I've screwed up! " and hid himself under the blankets of the couch.

Sonic sighed, knowing that he couldn't really call Miles out on it without making him start crying again, and said, " Don't worry, you didn't know any better, " and justified to his friends, " I'm sorry, it was an impulse, the heat of the moment! I wasn't thinking! I just wanted to get Buns and Alicia out of the way for the fight and I forgot that the water had something nasty in it. When I was sent in there, I had enough Rings that I didn't even feel a difference before I got out, and I never saw any octopods either. I think it just drained my Rings until I was almost out of them. I vibrated my body at sonic speed to turn intangible to escape the ropes and coat and got out, and that fast current never let me so much as sink before I could get to the surface. "

Miles sat up and replied nervously, " W-Well I'm glad you survived! You went intangible? T-That's weird, I didn't know you could do that. Just because you vibrated fast? " while hoping his first sentence wouldn't be dismissed as him lying and sucking up to him by anyone. Sally had that idea in her head, but knew he was on the verge of tears as it was. Sonic smiled a bit at the first sentence as everyone was already starting to forgive him, and said, " I guess it IS pretty weird, I'm no Espio. I suck at keeping it on for more than a second… And that's a nice change, too, Miles, better than saying, ' No way. ' "

Miles looked really hurt and remorseful and apologized, " I-I'm sorry, I thought you were Scourge! I wasn't thinking things through, I was just doing what I was expected to by my friends! I was so upset that he abandoned me to go your world and my friends wanted revenge when they found out! I ALREADY got ditched by my PARENTS. I don't even know what they look like! " Tails felt especially sorry for him at the last two sentences, immediately thinking of his own parents and wondering if it was a good idea to introduce him to them, and Miles said more quietly in shame, " I was hurting a lot when I thought I saw him again, and I just needed to lash out. But if that had actually, succeeded, I don't think I would've been able to live with myself! "

After a brief silence where he desperately hoped they believed him about it, he immediately wanted to change the subject and explained giving them the bad news, " You said Espio earlier? My zone's Espio is a violent thief we had to get locked up. The rest of his ' Chaotix ' gang weren't much better, but with his invisibility powers, he was the worst. Vector looked the scariest, but he was just the distraction! We were lucky we had Scourge with us back then or we wouldn't have won. "

" What was wrong with them? " Bunnie commented looking creeped out, and Miles shrugged and said, " Bad parents, I assume? But I think Espio was self-explanatory, really, chameleon thieves were always a big problem in my world. We never heard of any of them who _didn't_ abuse their powers. It's weird to think someone could have any sort of powers like Espio's and not abuse them. "

As Antoine went to sit beside him and Miles moved the blankets so that they would cover him instead, Bunnie asked him, " What would _you_ have done with them? " and Miles figured he had to be honest so he'd get their trust, so instead of stalling for too long, he got their sympathy by admitting, " I'd go invisible and never turn it off, so nobody could stare at my tails. Maybe I could've tried to make one of them stay that way forever. Things would've been a LOT easier for me! Then again, the people at the orphanage saw those two tails since I was brought there as a baby, I doubt they'd stop treating me like a freak just because one of my other tails disappeared. But after I got out of there, I don't think I would've ever gone visible again. Why bother? But then I'd never have gotten any friends. I'd still have a miserable life and it would've never gotten any better! I would've had to leave that island to go somewhere people DIDN'T know me, and maybe then I COULD'VE had a normal life as long as I kept one of my tails hidden. "

" What HAPPENED to them to get them all bruised and cut up?! " Tails exclaimed, noticing his tails at last. Since he had two tails as well, he was the first to speak up. Miles wasn't comfortable with admitting the truth, and stammered, " Well, um… uh… Do I have to? Nobody hurt me, can I leave it at that? Why would you care? " Tails looked hurt and confused, and said, " I'm one of the good guys! AND a good Tails! Of course I care! I can't help it! "

Wanting to keep Miles from getting into trouble, Antoine put his hand on his shoulder, still confusing the rest of his friends by being so close to him and quick to forgive him, and reassured him, " It's okay, you can tell us! We won't tell anybody, and you have nothing to worry yourself about! " Miles sighed, and after a few seconds, he admitted quietly, " I kinda smacked them on the floor of the cave, " which worried everyone as Nicole cringed at him hurting himself from sheer stress, and he justified,

" I was stressed out, okay?! I won't do it again! I probably won't have a reason to anymore. I mean, I've been here for like a minute and so far, I haven't been mistreated once, I've gotten, nothing but... the opposite. Although it's just from two people, but I'll take it!... " Sonic said, " Hold on, " ran out of the room and came back with a First Aid Kit in seconds, and much to Miles' surprise, Tails was the one who wanted to help him. " T-Thanks? " he said in confusion.

Miles grimaced at the disinfectant being used on his first cut, and said nervously, " I-I can handle disinfecting them myself, " preferring to have the pain be caused by himself over someone else, and he was stunned at the sight as Tails kept putting band-aids over his cuts with a worried expression on his face. He thought, " _I never knew he was capable of such compassion! _" It would take longer than that for it to fully sink in that Tails was a nice person, but for the moment, he was starting to warm up to him.

Starting to get sick of being pitied, he changed the subject and tried to end the conversation by saying, " I couldn't go back to my gang. Not after the way I… well, I hope you can understand why I was doing that. I never want to be in that kind of position again! I'm so SICK of being a traitor, first to Scourge and now them TOO! I-I-I want to make things up to you! ALL of you. I'm sure Kintobor already told you that, but, just so we're clear. So I'll do anything you want! And any amount of things too, no matter how long it'll take! I can fight robots too and I could protect you guys when you're distracted and busy! PLEASE?! I'll be supervised if you don't trust me! I'd even wear a tracking device, like one of those ankle monitors! "

Sally replied, " Okay, okay! Fine! But you'll be under constant supervision. Maybe not when you have to go to the washroom or go to bed, but as much as we can, we'll be keeping an eye on you. Like we should've done with Fiona and Snively! Although at least unlike them, you're showing remorse for your crimes. That's already a good sign. So maybe it won't even be necessary. And maybe we could put a tracking device in one of your bracelets. " Miles smiled the whole time she said that, although it was a nervous smile where he was suspicious of such a good outcome, and exclaimed, " THANK you! I'll do my best! "

Antoine reassured him to everyone's surprise, " I know you will, mon frère ! Just get some rest, first, okay? " Miles laid down having his head sink into a pillow as Antoine put the blankets of the sofa over him, and stroked his back and side affectionately while saying, " You need to get as much sleep as you can if you want to be well-rested for tomorrow. And you take so long to get to sleep, you're better off going to bed early. As usual. "

He knew that everyone was staring at him in confusion and bewilderment from him treating him like that, but he wasn't going to let it stop him, especially not when he needed his comfort the most. Tails finally spoke for everyone else saying, " I forgot you spent months with the evil twins. So is that why you're being so nice to him? What was that LIKE? "

There was an awkward silence, before Antoine explained nervously, " I admit, I should've told you about it a long time ago. But I thought you might not BELIEVE me about Miles even HAVING any kind of soft side, or at least think I was mistaken about it! And I was so ashamed of having to participate in everything they did and I didn't want to be, judged for it anymore than I already judged myself. Although for the most part, they just fought criminals! That's why they called themselves the Freedom Fighters, actually; it was the princess fighting back against people who were ABUSING their freedom. "

As everyone listened while looking interested and surprised, Antoine continued with a smile, " And sometimes, Miles would get me out of doing stuff I didn't want to do, because we'd have ' missions ' alone together, and he'd just want to go to the arcade or do some cooking with me instead. He's a GREAT cook, surprisingly, and it was to the point where he was even teaching me some things! We used to have a lot of, ' let's not and say we did, ' missions, and I'll always appreciate that he did that for me. Neither of us had anything against Dr Kintobor. Neither of us were comfortable with the misdeeds they were doing and he related to me about it the first day I came there! M-Misdeeds IS a word, right? "

They smiled nervously and nodded. Most of the Freedom Fighters went back to what they were doing after that, seeing no reason to stay. Sally ordered Miles, " Let me borrow one of your wristbands, " and he nodded, and gave it to her, saying nervously, " I hope I get it back soon, these were a GIFT. "

Sally asked, " From who? Scourge? " Miles nodded, and she and Nicole were surprised that he would ever give anyone a gift as he said sadly, " They were the first birthday present I ever got. Well technically that was the jacket, shades and boots you first saw me in, but THESE things were actually wrapped in gift-wrap, with a bow and everything! I still can't believe he went to all that trouble, and for someone he just met. He didn't even do it for anyone before, but he learned how just for me! "

Nicole and Kintobor couldn't help but smile wistfully at that, while Sally was mostly just confused. Sally asked Kintobor, " Could you supervise Miles on that armchair for a little while? Rotor and Tails need to make a tracking device for his bracelet. " He nodded, she brought the bracelet to the lab, and with that, he was left almost completely alone, with Kintobor on the armchair silently watching TV with the volume down low.

Then Miles thought looking depressed with his eyes closed, " _If I had known it was going to be that easy, I would've come here YEARS ago! Why do I have to be such a coward?! I should've known they'd let me help them. Why wouldn't they want to take advantage of me? Now I just have to hope I can earn their genuine friendship too. That's what I really want. At least a few of them seem to care about me. Even TAILS put band-aids on me when he didn't even have to! He could've just had me do it myself! What does that really mean?_ "


	4. Chapter 4

An hour later, Tails and Rotor had finally finished making the tracking devices and putting them inside Miles' bracelets. He went over to the living room where Miles was unsuccessfully trying to sleep on the couch, and said in annoyance, " Okay I finished the tracking device for your bracelets, " resentful that while Miles had apologized to Sonic for everything, he hadn't apologized to HIM.

Miles sat up and put the bracelets on, and tried to make it more clear that he was on his side by saying, " Good. " " Good? " Tails said in confusion. A future traitor would've been the opposite of thankful for having a tracking device on him all the time, as he'd get tracked down in minutes if he separated from the team. Miles felt nervous about Tails' suspicion of him, and explained awkwardly while hoping he would believe him,

" Well if anything happens to me, I mean if I ever get separated by them from some sort of disaster like I fall down a hill, or something, like if I somehow get knocked out and captured, they'll know where I am just fine. Though unless I got injured so I couldn't move my arms, I really doubt they'd need to go out of their way to save me themselves, so you don't have to worry about me being a burden on you like that. " " What makes you think you'll be fine? I've never even seen you destroy a robot before, " Tails asked with his arms crossed skeptically, accusing him of being arrogant.

Miles was even more nervous about the prospect of telling his former enemy about the powers he had that he didn't, or at least wasn't using, because he was paranoid that if he told the Freedom Fighters about them, they would only become afraid of Tails' evil twin abusing those powers. Hoping he wouldn't try to hurt him in self-defence just from being told that, Miles explained nervously and awkwardly,

" Well, I've learned a few things, a lot of things. Not actually since last time, actually I knew I could do at least ONE of those things even by THAT point. I just didn't want to really scare everyone in the base by doing it and get ALL the attention on MYSELF as the ' biggest threat ' when I would've had NO intentions of actually hurting any of them with it. I didn't even really WANT to go along with that plan! It was Scourge's idea to take over your base! If I was- "

Tails interrupted, " Whoa whoa, wait a minute, what were you talking about? What didn't you wanna scare us by doing?! " Miles admitted while feeling pressured to hurry and not make a mistake, " W-Well, uh… What if I, PLEASE don't hurt me! I-I don't wanna startle any of you into hurting me! I wanted to show you what I learned I could do a couple of months ago, so you'll know I can fight robots no problem, but- " " We're not THAT easily scared. I think that's enough advance warning, MILES. Just show me already, I'm tired of waiting! " Tails told him looking offended, as Rotor and Nicole walked into the living room looking curious, having overheard the last part of their conversation.

Miles said nervously looking ashamed with drooping ears by the end of the first sentence, " O-Okay, well, um, you know how I mentioned, ' magical heritage? ' when I was, _lashing_ _out_ at you earlier? W-Well, I don't know my own family, so I don't know if I got it from THEM or if chaos energy on my planet just happened to give me these powers before I was born, but either way, here goes… " He put his hands facing each other in front of him and created a golden ball of electricity for a little while, surprising Tails and Rotor. He tried to calm them down with a cute nervous smile smiled as he said, " See? I can fight robots with this! L-Look, I can do more than that! "

He sent it higher in the air and created a picture of a thundercloud out of golden electricity above them as they all stared at it with their eyes wide open in shock. He made it disappear with the twitch of his wrists, not wanting them to be nervous about it any longer, and continued nervously with a forced smile trying to ignore how scared he was of their distrust,

" I-I WOULD create a literal thundercloud, but you'd probably just complain about the water soaking your base. But that's my main thing, electricity and rain. The first of my powers that I ever discovered was my lightning-throwing power, and that's what I held back from using last time. And I don't wanna scare you all or damage your floor by demonstrating it. Well, ' first ' of my powers, aside from flying with my tails which you already know how to do. Obviously that's a form of wind magic since you're using the wind to keep yourself in the air defying gravity. I learned that when I was 4 and I… yeah. "

Out of embarrassment, he didn't want to talk about how he had learned about it; by running off a cliff when he was being chased by a bully. He didn't want to tell them how he discovered his lightning throwing power either, because telling them that he lost his temper against a hot dog salesman for insulting him a lot would only make them disapprove of him and afraid of him. Instead, he changed the subject and said, " But look! Here's the best one! " and froze the air right in front of him into an ice cube the size of himself, telling them with an excited smile,

" Now if there's ANY enemies of yours that AREN'T robots, I can just deal with them THAT way, freezing them in ice, so you won't have any reason to lecture me about hurting them too much by being rough. Ever since I learned I could do this, I do it every chance I get. " Miles then looked away from them, unable to stand their nervous expressions anymore, and admitted,

" I know you don't trust me with these kinds of powers, but you'll see, I'm only planning on using them to help make things up to you. I'm tired of them being wasted on me! Normally I would freeze criminals with them, but, when I could be doing something MORE, I mean, I don't know this ' Robotnik ' you're dealing with, but from what I've heard about him from Scourge, from what his girlfriend told him, he sounds like HE deserves my, hatred and whatnot a lot more. A-Anyways, I'm tired of just being on the couch, is there anything I can do for you to start making it up to you? I came here to be worthwhile, not lie around. Even if it IS late. And I _know_ you think that's strange, after all of our fights, and, my insults, but, you MIGHT be a nice person, for all I know… so if you ARE, then, you would deserve to be made up to. "

Tails couldn't help but smile at the end, liking the idea that Miles' awkwardness about apologizing implied he really meant it, but he was still confused and suspicious, being cautious and keeping him at arm's length the whole time. Tails asked, " W-Well, um, would you get me some ice cream? Bring me the bowl and container and scoop, I can scoop it for myself, " while still being paranoid about him sabotaging his ice cream at the end. Miles caught that and felt sad at still not being trusted, and Kintobor looked sad from pity as a result while he agreed, " Alright, " and went to the kitchen for him, only not moving there as fast as possible from wind magic because he had to be supervised by Rotor.

He brought him a container of chocolate ice cream, a bowl and scoop and opened the container for him. Tails scooped some ice cream and put it in a bowl for himself, and Miles eventually said to break the awkward silence, " I just hope you're eating _healthy_ enough that giving you stuff like ICE CREAM won't cause any PROBLEMS and slightly ruin the point of trying to help you. " Rotor couldn't help but smile, thinking, " _No enemy of mine ever said anything like that, _" and Tails, seeing him as nagging him while still appreciating it deep down, snarked jokingly, " What are you, my mother? "

Kintobor felt awful for him immediately as Miles looked heartbroken and said, " You have a MOTHER? " Tails was instinctively reluctant to tell his evil twin he had parents and risk their safety, especially after what Patch did to Antoine's father, but seeing the heartbroken look on Miles' face started to change his mind about being so distrustful of him, as rather than showing any hint of a future evil plan, he looked depressed, and returned to the sofa to lie down on it again, facing the sofa itself and putting his blankets over himself. Not being able to stand it anymore, Tails blurted out, " Do you wanna MEET them? " wondering if he would regret it. Miles didn't say anything to respond as he wiped his eyes under the blankets, and Tails continued showing him compassion as Sally walked into the room,

" I don't think you should spend the night on the couch anyways. Not just because it's just a couch and that's not too comfortable, because we actually have a bed in the guest room of this place. A friend of ours seemed to like it. But I don't think I really trust you to be in our base alone all night yet. I mean, you've shown no signs of being a problem since you came back, but Sally said she wants you supervised, so it'd be better to have you outside of our base when we're sleeping. And there's no other place you could sleep that's safe on Mobius AND near us, than our city. And I guess it's only fair that you get to spend some time with my parents, because technically, I mean biologically, they're YOURS too. But I'll be keeping my eye on you, just in case. I know you seem harmless now, but I just don't want a repeat of what Patch did, I don't wanna risk it. But PLEASE stop crying, okay?! I can't stand seeing you like that! "

Miles, thankful that his voice wasn't cracking, dried the last of his tears and reluctantly explained looking depressed and resentful, " I don't mean to. I NEVER wanted you to see me like this, but, I can't help it. I'm NOT always like this! I barely ever cry in front of people! I've just had a really stressful day. I-I GUESS I could see them. But I told you all what my own parents did to me. Everything I suffered through on that island, was thanks to THEM for abandoning me. Though I bet if they didn't, they would've treated me like dirt THEMSELVES. And either way, I would've ended up… like this. I'm not sure I WANT to see them. I'm not comfortable with that. I-I'd rather come live with SONIC actually. "

Tails reasoned unhappily, " My parents aren't LIKE that, they're good people! They have good intentions and they're nothing but nice to me! And after I tell them how you've changed, they'll be nice to YOU, or at least polite. I promise you have nothing to worry about! I bet they'll even give you a hug! If you're really sincere about becoming a good guy, you'll deserve a hug! "

Kintobor, understanding Miles better than he did from all the time he had spent with him in the last couple of months, simply said with compassion, " You need some time, I understand. You have a lot to adjust to already, you're already stressed out as it is. Let's just take things one step at a time. It's never an easy thing for you to trust people, and it couldn't be easy to trust people who look like your parents. Even though I'm sure they're their good twins, so you have nothing to worry about. "

Rotor finally managed to get the courage to speak up, reassuring him, " I'm sure Sonic will be willing to humor you, I mean, look at how nice he was to you! He's still got a spare bed in HIS room, and his parents have missed having Tails live with them. And Sally wants you supervised as much as possible, so I guess sharing a bedroom with someone is the best solution. "

Miles was quiet and didn't respond, and Kintobor said, " Nicole, you should tell Sonic to come over fast. I don't think he thinks Sonic would agree to it, " hoping that Sonic would reassure him. After the amount of pity he showed for him that day already, it was clear that he would, but Miles was too nervous about the Freedom Fighters not trusting him or respecting him to have complete faith in him.

" Good idea, " Nicole agreed, and disappeared, teleporting her holographic physical form away to call up Sonic in the city, and Miles wondered if he would ever get used to that, muttering, " She looks just like a normal person, " and caught himself thinking, " _Really pretty, though. What am I thinking, I shouldn't care about the way someone LOOKS! I'm being no better than my bullies!_ " which made him look sad. Tails said, " I'm sure she'd be happy to hear that. She worked hard on that ' physical body ' hologram! "

Miles was confused at first and wondered if Tails somehow read his mind, and then Rotor asked, " So you can control electricity, huh? You're an electromage? " starting to get worried because the last time Nicole was around one, things didn't end so well, and while he knew Miles was showing every indication that he was sincere about becoming a hero, for all he knew Miles might lose his temper or get selfish and act like he was expected to again, even if for a moment. It was exactly that fear that discouraged everyone in the room from telling him what exactly the Iron Queen did to Nicole because for all they knew, he'd do the same thing. " I didn't know there was a term for that. I thought I was the only one that could do this! " briefly twitching his twist to make golden electricity spark from his right hand.

Miles said in confusion, and worried that he was getting them reminded of some other people. He tried to reassure them, " I-I don't know if you've ever met any ' electromages, ' b-but if you had any bad experiences with them, I'm not like them! However they are. I hope it's not clouding your judgement right now because that's not fair to me, I've never even heard of them! " and ended up just being really nervous about potentially getting them mad at him for insulting them.

Tails explained, " Just to clear things up, the last electromage we met was the Iron Queen, and she took over our whole city! She was a human though, not like you. I don't know where she got her powers, she never told us. I remember her using a ring wand, but we didn't see that last time when I thought she NEEDED it earlier. "

Miles replied while sitting on the couch covered in blankets, " I wouldn't do that. I know that's not reassuring to you because you don't trust me, but I don't think I would be a good king, so I wouldn't even try. When I came back home after Scourge was dealt with, Ally told me that I'm the real leader around there, but I felt like trying to run a country would be too much pressure, so I didn't bother. SHE was a princess, so I felt like she'd be more qualified for the throne. And when they started getting impatient for another plan against Kintobor, she started making them on her own, and I couldn't do anything to stop it! I guess I could've told them no, but what if doing that would just get them really mad at me? I'm not a leader type, I'd rather have the people I'm with all the time be okay with me! When they found out I was working for Kintobor a couple hours ago, Ally was the only one who wasn't yelling at me for it, and sure, she didn't punish me, but the rest of them were really resentful that she didn't. I didn't want to get into that situation if I didn't have to, there was nothing I could do to change their minds! I was just sticking with what I was used to, for the most part anyways. "

That got their sympathy as well, fortunately for him, and it was getting harder for them to think of him as just an evil twin as a result. Tails could only manage to respond with, " G-Good. I hope that's true, it'd be a nice change of pace for my evil twin, " still looking confused and worried, and Miles found himself snarking, " I'm not just ' an evil twin. ' I'm sick and tired of that label! " and he hoped he wouldn't get himself in trouble from letting out his stress by saying that. He then said, " I hope you're not expecting me to NEVER be snarky or rude. I don't want to get in trouble, but I get stressed out sometimes, " and was worried that they wouldn't accept him for who he was.

Rotor reassured him, " It's okay, you'd hardly be the only one of us to complain or be sarcastic. Sally and Sonic do it all the time. We're not THAT oversensitive. And we're not going to punish you THAT easily. You'd know if you were betraying us, " and asked, " So you're not an electromage, then? I mean, you aren't human after all. " Miles responded, " That sounds too restrictive for me, I have more than just electricity to use. I can create ice and some miniature tornadoes to fly with or even boost myself ahead when I'm running! I've been told I can run as fast as Scourge now! Though they never measured me, so who knows if that's true. Well technically I don't run, I hover while spinning my tails behind me. I start OUT running, but after I get a boost going, my legs don't even have to move. "

As they started looking even more intimidated, Tails asked him, " What are you, a Master of the Elements? " Miles said in confusion, " Elements? D-Do you mean, fire, water, wind and earth or something? " " Yeah, of course! " Tails said, already getting reassured because unless he was playing dumb, he couldn't have known what an Ixis Naugus even was.

Miles said, " I don't think I can, well does it count as controlling the earth if you send wind at it to move it around? I don't see why that can't count. I guess I could do stuff to the ground or rocks with the wind, but I don't see the point and you'd get mad at me for damaging the environment anyways, and if I want to summon a solid object, ice works just fine. And that's all I can do unfortunately, and I hate how cold it feels. I can't stand fire, so you'll never have to worry about that, but I can warm up air all you want, and if you NEED me to make a fire, I can do it. And I can make a little raincloud or even make it rain in general, so I can summon water, but I'd need to use wind to control it, and I never did it before outside of training. I'm mostly just about electricity, wind and ice, and most of that doesn't fall under that element category. After I figured out from Patch that being able to predict the weather with 100% accuracy every day was something unique to ME, I realized that I had to have some sort of weather magic, and I taught myself everything I could. "

" Why can't you stand fire? " Rotor asked after an awkward silence, and Miles looked sad and scared just from remembering the reasons why he hated it, and he was reluctant to tell them the answer because he was afraid that they would accuse him of burning down his old orphanage on purpose, just because he was considered an evil twin, when he didn't think it was his fault, or at least he hoped it wasn't most of the time. After a few seconds of him being quiet and nervous, Rotor said, " Hello? Did you hear what I said? "

" T-There was a lightning strike, a-and it hit a building in front of me, okay? I was only 4 years old! 3, maybe! I didn't know I had all these powers back then, it was just a thunderstorm! And it left me HOMELESS for years! " Miles said sadly, terrified of the consequences, and his eyes started welling up with tears. Kintobor got up from the armchair and walked up to him and hugged him, and Tails noticed him hug back immediately, and not only that, but he put his tails around him to hold him closer, too. They couldn't help but smile at that, but only for a few seconds because they felt too sorry for him to keep it up. Tails asked in horror, " It couldn't have hit your parents' house, so what was it? " " M-My orphanage, on Coconut Island. Please don't get mad at me! It wasn't my fault! Even if everyone thought it was. It made me a pariah! " Miles stammered.

As Kintobor ended the hug and Miles took deep breaths subtly to try to calm down, everyone reassured him, and the door to the base opened as Sonic went inside and immediately looked concerned about him. Kintobor told him as Miles started frantically drying his eyes looking away from him, " Sonic, your house still has Tails' bed, right? He needs to come stay with you and your parents. He can't trust Tails' yet and he doesn't think Tails would trust him either. He NEEDS your support on this, he can't just sleep on the couch! And a couch in your base, too. He should have a proper home. " The entire time, Miles was dreading getting told no.

Sonic felt so sorry for someone who looked like Tails being in that state that he said, " Okay, I guess I'll have to. I hope the 'rents will be okay with it, but after I told them that you changed, Miles, I don't think they'll mind. They missed having Tails around, " and he smiled at him reassuringly and put his hand on his shoulder. Miles immediately smiled at him through the tears, which told him right away that he had done the right thing, and asked Sonic, " Would it be asking for too much if I asked for a hug? I almost did it right now, but I don't know if it'd be okay with YOU. "

Sonic teased, " Tails, are you gonna get all jealous? Do we have to go outside first? " and Tails tried to humor them both, saying, " Nah, go ahead, " and Sonic hugged Miles in a protective embrace, already starting to feel like he could have another little brother. Miles returned the hug immediately and sighed in contentment at the end, and Rotor said, " Miles here says his wind magic could let him move as fast as YOU. " Not missing a beat, Sonic knew it wasn't the right time to question him on it and instead said with a smile, " Oh really? Wanna have a race? I'll point in the direction of the city, " and opened the door to the base and walked out a little.

Miles smiled genuinely, wondering if the good times had come back already, and better than ever because Sonic was a hero, and said, " Sure. I guess no one would hold it against me if I acted childish here, right? " as he walked up to beside Sonic. Rotor, Tails and Kintobor said cheerfully, " No, of course not, " hoping this would make him stop trying to act and talk maturely for good, and Sonic did a quick countdown and the two sped off in blurs, with Miles sending wind from his hands behind him to help blast him ahead spinning his tails behind him, and all of that wind helped him keep up with him.

They ran into the field and through the Great Forest, dodging the trees just fine, and when they reached Sonic's house in New Mobotropolis, slowing themselves down more the closer they got to it, he stopped and said, " I was just letting you keep up with me, buddy, " ruffled his hair affectionately as he smiled only pretending to be annoyed, and continued, " I once ran all around your planet over and over in a quick little race with Scourge and that was just a minute. But I didn't wanna leave you behind. Now come on, " and put his arm around Miles to try to keep him with him before ringing the doorbell of his house.

Miles was nervous again, not expecting any kind of warm welcome, and when Sonic's mother opened the door, she didn't stop smiling. She had a cocked eyebrow and said, " Oh, hi there, ' Miles! ' I've heard good things about you. Come on in! " and walked out of the way, letting Sonic go in the front door holding Miles' arm to keep him with him. Miles was completely confused at his mother's kind behavior, as all she did was smile at him, and he was frustrated with himself for not predicting that this was guaranteed to happen after Sonic just told him he told his parents about his apologies.

All Sonic had to do was tell his parents in the living room, " My new friend here needs a place to live now that he's gonna be a Freedom Fighter. Is Tails' old bed okay? He'll be on his best behavior, " and they immediately agreed, despite Jules being more confused than her. Miles certainly found Sonic's robot father intimidating-looking, and he asked in confusion, " Wh-What, why does your dad look like that Metal Sonic? "

Jules simply explained, " I got hurt years ago, when Sonic was just a toddler, and his uncle Chuck had to roboticize me to save my life. But Robotnik sabotaged the roboticizer on him and I lost my free will to him, and it took several years for Chuck to use a Ring to give me my free will back. And now I'm trying to be the best father I can to make up for all the time I missed. "

" Oh, okay. I-I hope I didn't come off as rude, I guess you get that question a LOT, " Miles replied, feeling like he really missed a lot by not being on Mobius all his life. Jules reassured him, " It's okay, I'm used to it I guess, " and Sonic's mother explained unhappily,

" As for me, Robotnik roboticized me around the same time, and I got my free will back the same way. But when the Bem aliens deroboticized the world, Jules had to stay the way he was. His old war wounds were too much and they came back when they tried to return him to normal. But I still love him anyways! " She looked happy and hugged Jules by the end, and he returned it as Sonic smiled and Miles was just confused, even more so than when he heard about aliens from her.

Sonic noticed his expression and asked, " What's the big deal? Parents are mushy to each other all the time! They wouldn't have gotten married otherwise! " and Miles thought of him as being naïve about parents from having such good ones.

" You're very lucky you have parents like THAT, " Miles replied jealously, and Sonic's mom just took it as a compliment and said, " Why thank you, you didn't have to say that! " as she let go of her husband. Miles was embarrassed about accidentally complimenting a stranger, and replied nervously,

" I-I, what I was going to say was, I've NEVER seen parents who hugged each other like that, and I've never seen parents this cheerful and nice either. I didn't think they existed! I mean logically they have to since there's so many people out there, but the thought never occurred to me before! My own parents ditched me. They took one look at my second tail and decided they didn't want me! At least that's what the workers at my orphanage said. The only ' parents ' I saw of anybody were Scourge's parents and they weren't like this! "

Sonic's parents looked sad, feeling sorry for him just like Sonic did, and they were both sad AND curious when he mentioned Scourge. Jules thought back to when Scourge broke into his house at night and did nothing but taunt and threaten him, only to be scared and sound like he was crying when he said, " Just a bunch of empty words. You're no different from my old man after all, " and he asked with concern, " So what were they like, then? " feeling terrible for Scourge already. He WAS a Sonic after all, even if he wasn't his actual son.

Miles revealed, " They were only awake at home for an hour at best. They were always busy with their jobs! His father worked in the government running the country and he wore a cape and black hat, and his mother was a businesswoman who was ALWAYS talking on a phone to her business people. I don't think I ever saw her talk to Scourge, OR me! They just let the servants do the parenting and their servants didn't like him either! Sure the maid and chef didn't HATE him, but they were just focused on their jobs. He said THAT'S the reason he didn't respect making an honest living. He thought most people were slaves to their jobs and he didn't ever wanna be like that. "

Sonic's mom Bernadette commented looking horrified, " I'm glad I chose not to go to business school, then! " and Miles continued, " All I ever heard about them was that they were neglectful. Scourge always complained to me about how they only focused on themselves and would say anything to get away from him and I got the impression they were ALWAYS like that. Before he could ever do anything to deserve it! I know, I know, he's, not a good person. But he still shouldn't have had parents like that! They're probably the reason he turned out so bitter! He definitely blames THEM for him being so rebellious! He started breaking the rules and laws because he was mad at THEM! "

They all looked really concerned and worried the entire time, and eventually Jules asked, " Did… did he ever tell you how they punished him? " Miles took a second to try to remember before saying, " He never said anything about that. All I remember is, when he first brought me into his home and gave me the guest room, I asked him how I'd be punished if I broke a rule, and he looked nervous and took a second to answer. Come to think of it, I-I-I think he went pale when I asked him how HE was punished. "

Sonic's mother gasped, and Miles continued, " All he said was that his parents would leave me alone and would leave raising me to him, since letting me live here was HIS idea, and he said he'd go pretty easy on me and just make me do chores. And nothing like ' cleaning the toilets. ' Did he have personal experience with doing that? People made ME clean the toilets back at the orphanage all the time, and he said that without me even mentioning it. He didn't ever wanna TALK about it, but I got a bad feeling, especially when he told me that his father was the reason he learned how to run so fast. His father didn't seem like the type to intentionally teach him to do something, especially not outrun him… I'm sorry I made things so depressing. "

Jules reassured him, " No, that's okay, I'm the one who asked. You couldn't help it if it was nothing but bad news. Don't worry, we're nothing like them. We don't even have jobs! Why don't you go upstairs and check out your bed and get some sleep for the night? You really look like you need it. " Sonic's mom commented looking worried, " Yeah, you DO, you've got stress lines and everything! Nuh-uh, no kid should have anything like that! Did you have dinner yet? "

As Sonic smiled all content at his mother even being motherly to Miles, Miles replied, " Yeah, with Kintobor, " looking confused, and Sonic said, " I'll show ya where to go, " and ran in a blue blur down the hall to stand in front of his bedroom. Miles hurried over to him as fast as possible and went in his room, causing Bernie to say nervously, " I think I scared him off. At least HE didn't have to deal with parents like Scourge's, " with Jules nodding in response feeling terrible for Scourge.

Miles laid down on Tails' old bed getting under the covers, where he started feeling comfortable immediately from the soft pillow and mattress. Already he was starting to fall asleep, and Sonic ruffled his hair again saying happily, " I'm proud of you, lil' buddy. Keep up the good work. I dunno if that means anything to you or if I'm just embarrassing- " " It DOES. Thank you, " Miles admitted, incredibly content.

Sonic was pleasantly surprised, turned off the light and laid down in his own bed, where his smile soon faded as he started thinking about Scourge, and thought while staring into the ceiling with a concerned expression, " _I had no idea he had to go through stuff like that! I guess it makes sense. His parents would be the evil twins of MINE, and THEY weren't separated from him by Robotnik. I should've known… Of course he had to start being a troublemaker to SOMEONE. I just assumed he was born evil and that's that! But if his parents were as nice as mine, there's no way he'd have ended up that mean. He had to have someone to become cynical FROM. But at least Miles was spared that. He doesn't HATE parents, he's just confused at the good ones._ "

When Miles woke up the next morning, he was surprised to wake up to Sonic's voice saying gently, " Hey, buddy, aren't ya hungry? " The voice reassured him immediately reminding him of the happiest year of his life, when he had his best friend all to himself, and he was the type to be so absorbed in the past that at first it didn't even confuse him just waking up to it. He then realized how unusual it was considering the period of his life he was in, but he wasn't startled, because he knew it was still someone he could trust, especially from his tone.

When he opened his eyes and was reminded that he was in an unfamiliar bed and room, with a bed shaped like a red and white race car nearby, one of the things he was surprised by was that the lighting in the room wasn't dark. He said in confusion, " I slept in? "

Sonic reassured him, " No you didn't, you woke up right on time! I came to get you up for pancakes. She's just about done making 'em! Why would this be late? " Miles left the bed and said, " I normally don't sleep that well. I wake up pretty early most of the time and then waste hours trying to get back to sleep! " As they started walking out of the room and down the hall to the kitchen, Sonic looked concerned, and tried to look on the bright side for him saying, " Maybe this is a good sign. You're not as stressed out anymore because you know you did the right thing and came to us, and sure, adjusting to being with us will be stressful for you, but the hard part is over! "

They sat down at the kitchen table as Sonic's mother put plates with syrup-covered chocolate chip pancakes out for them with forks on them. Miles was confused at first, not only from how cheerful Sonic's mother was being and the fact that she was cooking at all compared to Scourge's mother, but also from the fact that his food wasn't already cut for him. While he used to cut his food, he had grown used to the servants in the castle doing it, but when he saw Sonic cutting his own pancakes, he realized he had to force himself to mimic what he was doing so he wouldn't risk embarrassing himself.

It was a quiet, peaceful and uneventful meal, as Sonic and his parents acted natural as they soon learned just how shy and self-conscious Miles was, spending the time looking down at his food staying quiet as if he was alone. It didn't seem like he would want to put up with a bunch of questions about his old life, which a worrywart like him would've only perceived as an interrogation where if he answered a question wrong, he'd fail.

Sonic's parents had just met him, so they didn't want to seem rude by questioning a stranger who didn't trust them on his personal life no matter how curious they were, so they tried to resist the urge, and while it was a bit awkward to talk about the things they normally did with him around listening in, they tried to do so anyways, so Miles got to hear about what Sonic's day was like yesterday, and it sounded to him like a lot of fun, mainly involving smashing robots.


	5. Chapter 5

When they finished breakfast, Nicole warped in front of the front door as they were about to leave, making Miles jump startled, and Sonic complained for Miles' sake, " A little warning next time? No offense but most people ring the doorbell first. " Nicole apologized looking awkward, " Sorry. I'm still adjusting to trying to live like an organic person. "

Miles quickly felt sorry for Nicole, recognizing the same awkwardness in himself when HE embarrassed himself, and he looked sympathetic to her. She explained, " I'm here because I think it's about time you introduced Miles as an ally to the Chaotix and Amy. So I warped to them and told them that we have a new, unexpected Freedom Fighter with us and he'll meet them at the Lake of Rings with you. Better now than later, you don't want them to be all startled and angry because they see Miles and don't know he's with us now. " Miles was really nervous and wished she hadn't done that immediately, and Sonic tried to reassure him with his arm around him, saying, " We have to get this done eventually. You'll run into them at some point anyways, especially Amy. And I won't let 'em hurt you. They'll listen to ME. "

Sonic walked out of the house, and told him, " Follow me, I know the way! " Miles sighed, and reluctantly ran after him, following him as fast as he could looking like a yellow and red blur with black at the top as he passed by people in the city on the way to the lake. The color of the blur naturally intrigued everyone who saw it, but because Tails wasn't with them, they all assumed the more simple explanation, that Tails was just trying out a different outfit and a wig, much like how Bunnie changed outfits and hairstyles a lot in her efforts to feel good about her appearance. News was already starting to spread, and when the people who witnessed Miles in the city talked to the people who had seen Tails in it as normal, they wondered why he had changed outfits so fast after putting it on. It was only inevitable that they would figure it out.

When they stopped in front of the Lake of Rings, Miles made sure to keep his distance from the Chaotix and Amy standing a few feet behind Sonic with a nervous but serious expression, as they looked surprised, apprehensive and confused just at seeing him. Knuckles exclaimed looking surprised and worried for him, " Another Tails? The only other Tails we've ever heard of is the evil one! This is your new recruit?! "

Sonic looked back at him briefly and felt sorry for Miles as he was backing away nervously, and he tried to smile as he faced the Chaotix again and told them, " I've got great news! Miles quit the Suppression Squad for GOOD! He can't stand them anymore! In FACT, he was working with Kintobor as a double agent for MONTHS up until they found out. Now he wants to do EVERYTHING he can to make it up to us. I know it seems weird, but you'll get used to him. " Ray, Mighty and Safron seemed to give him a chance, smiling at him, with Ray waving briefly and Mighty having his hands on his hips with a proud smile, while Safron was also confused.

Refusing to let the suspicious Knuckles, Espio, Amy and Vector object, he interrupted them by saying, " He's nervous 'cause he already met evil versions of you. Well except you, Julie. Right? " Miles nodded, and Sonic continued, " But don't worry, kiddo, they're good people. I guess you know most of their names already from meeting their evil twins. This is Julie-Su, Knuckles' girlfriend, and this is Safron, Charmy's girlfriend. They were away on a little trip to the Twilight Zone for a week, but luckily Tails managed to break the lock on Knuckles' Warp Ring that kept him from using it to go to other zones. And Knux _finally_ thought to super-charge it with the Master Emerald, eventually, so now they're back from their vacation no harm done. If you had come here earlier you wouldn't have seen them right away. And Julie-Su already has experience with ditching an evil team for being evil, so she ought to relate to you on that front, RIGHT Su? "

Julie, who was nervous with her arms crossed before, looked sheepish at the end and at him telling Miles about her past and admitted, " Yeah, I guess. I got pretty sick of the Dark Legion telling me what to do. It felt like someone else's will was being forced over mine. But it was fine up until they broke out of the Twilight Zone and when I got separated from them, something in me told me that I was better off with Knuckles. And when they tried to take over his city, I KNEW I was. " Miles said in confusion, " So you left them THAT easily? They didn't have to try to take over a city first? You must have really hated that ' Legion ' team to have left the first chance you GOT. " Julie found it interesting that Miles seemed to have no familiarity with the Dark Legion on his planet.

Vector asked in annoyance, " What took YOU so long? " with his arms crossed. He looked pretty intimidating to Miles, with his muscular build and gold chain making him look just like his evil twin had when technically his twin had that look first, specifically to be threatening. Miles admitted nervously wondering if they'd ever understand, " They were my only FRIENDS. And the only real family I HAD. They were the only people who were understanding to me and nice to me! So I felt like I didn't have a choice because I'd be miserable without them, even more so than normal, and I stayed with them as long as I could because I didn't think Sally would ever agree to let me stay with Sonic and his friends after all of that bad history with them! I was REALLY lucky they felt sorry for me, and I'm still not sure all of them believe me about being regretful. "

Sonic reassured him putting his hand on his shoulder, " It's okay, buddy, calm down, " since he was getting worked up, and Miles subtly took a deep breath, refusing to look like a crybaby in front of them. Julie replied, " You were a lot luckier than ME, kiddo, I was pretty unpopular back there. I didn't have any real friends. Though I sort of had a family. After I lost my parents, probably thanks to my half-brother, the leaders of the Legion, my OWN half-siblings, erased my memories of my parents with a chip just to be jerks, but I still had someone raising me, and then after a couple years they erased my memories of THEM too, I guess 'cause they were jealous. And it took until like two years ago for me to see them again! But you had it pretty good there, apparently! "

At first Miles was intimidated by her complaining about her past and her apparent jealousy of him, but Julie then smiled looking proud as she said warming up to him, " And you know what, that just makes the fact that you came to Sonic all the more impressive. 'Cause I had basically nothing there, I had no reason to stay, and you were giving a lot up because you wanted to make up for your mistakes. " Miles found it sweet for the most part, but felt sad at the last sentence.

Sonic reassured Miles immediately, " And you got a TON of new friends in return! I mean honestly, how many friends over there did you really like? There were just 3 people left in your gang after Scourge and Buns left. But NOW you've got all of the Freedom Fighters AND the Chaotix on your side, and sure they need a couple days to get to KNOW you and realize that YES, you can be trusted, but the point is they'll have your backs when you need them, " glaring at Knuckles and Vector at some point, which Miles smiled nervously from appreciating. He also appreciated that Amy, Ray and Julie and Safron were smiling at him in contentment; while Amy was highly suspicious and bitter at first remembering how she fought with him last time, the idealism in her shone through by the end, and it helped that he looked like Tails.

Miles admitted, " By the end, I think I only liked Alicia. She was like the closest I ever had to a mother, AND an older sister, and she was always the one who defended me and reassured me, and she even took care of me when I was sick! And I doubt Sally will ever fill that role, at least if she keeps looking at me like I'm just a troublemaker when I did nothing to HER! " He realized he might have worried people by letting his resentment of Sally slip out and surprise them, so he looked nervous again, and admitted from the shame, " I-I think I have a lot more to make up for than Julie, if she went to Knuckles that fast. She got the good sense to leave the minute she COULD and I wasted years of my life because I was too loyal to them for my own good. "

Sonic comforted him, " Come on, you weren't THAT much of an enemy to us! A few little fights, that's ALL. And you said some insults out of stress, it's not like I never insult anyone, and I know you've got a lot more to stress out over than me. You were just a minor nuisance! " " Do you really mean that? You promise? " Miles said sadly with some hope. Sonic reassured him,

" I promise. You weren't nearly as bad as that traitor Sleuth, or Fiona, or Drago who tried to get me thrown in prison framing me! The Destructix were way more irritating than you. And Scourge has a lot more to answer for. You've been bullied a LOT and Scourge said he'd protect you, I get you not trusting people that easily anymore. We've all been through some heavy stuff, so no one blames you anymore. Or at least me and Antoine don't. You did what you were told to avoid getting in big trouble, and I'd rather you did that than get yourself killed or badly hurt! And I think you already made up for everything when you made an alliance with my friends against Scourge instead of actually getting the bombs to their city. "

Of course, everyone around him already knew about the bombs since they had already been told all about the Freedom Fighters' dealings with him and his friends a long time, as basic conversation about how their days had gone between friends, but Miles hadn't assumed that, and so he expected them all to be surprised and startled at even hearing the mention of bombs, and immediately tried to pre-emptively calm them down by saying nervously, " I never would've considered doing that, for the record! I've gotten rid of every bomb they made, and when they told me to make some I made sure they'd never work! I insisted on making them myself with no one watching. "

The more suspicious heroes were still wondering if he was lying, but the rest were just proud of him, with Sonic saying, " Awesome! Good for you! " and ruffling his hair making him start to smile a little, and everyone noticed how he appreciated Sonic's affection, which caused Vector to comment, " This'll definitely take some getting used to. " Ray commented teasing Vector a little, " It's not like all of US have squeaky clean pasts ourselves."

Miles asked in confusion, " Why are you looking at him? I thought he was the Vector who wasn't a thief. " Ray, feeling like he was better off being reassured and related to so he wouldn't think of them all as pure self-righteous heroes he couldn't relate to, told him, " H-He used to be. He used to run around with some orphaned thieves. S-Sorry Vector, but he was better off knowing he wasn't totally alone. " Vector groaned as everyone stared at him in confusion, and he complained, " You're lucky you're just a kid or I'd be mad at you for your big mouth. Well, uh, I guess it was pretty pointless to keep that a secret from my own pals anyways. " Knuckles teased him, " Don't you mean homies? " and Vector complained, " I think I'm growing out of that phase, " with his arms crossed.

Espio admitted, " Even I've done a few things I'm ashamed of. S-Sorry about all that, Sonic. I just realized I never bothered to apologize, " scratching the back of his neck. Miles was just confused and scared that the chameleon really couldn't be trusted, and Sonic said with a smile, " It's ancient history, buddy. I'm just glad to have you back, " and briefly explained to an apprehensive Miles, " Long story short, his mom lived in the East and he got called back home with her when the Iron Queen took over her clan. "

Espio elaborated, " I was pretty sure she would've been hurt or worse if I didn't do what I was told. " Sonic told him to reassure the suspicious Miles, " All he did was one little fight, though, it didn't matter. I might have never gotten to go meet his mom and get the Queen in prison if he HADN'T gone there. "

When Miles came back to Freedom HQ with Sonic for his first day officially helping them out, she and Nicole politely greeted him, " Good morning, " looking worried and confused, with the rest of the Freedom Fighters being there as well with similar expressions that he wished wouldn't be there. Miles cleared his throat, and said, " Um… I-I'm willing to do ANYTHING you all want, just to make it clear. But I-I have a suggestion, for, for the best. " Tails looked at him with a cocked eyebrow and annoyed expression asking, " What is it? "

He was worried that he'd get scolded for telling Sally what to do when giving her genuine advice on how to best take advantage of him, but he forced himself to start talking anyways. " O-Okay, i-If you don't mind, y-your Majesty, I'd rather be in public as LITTLE as possible. If I can avoid people seeing me and being rude to me, I will. If you NEED me, I'll do what you want, but it'd be best if I stuck to fighting robots and stuff for you guys. Anything that has to do with talking to people is not my thing. A-As you probably learned by now, after, last time we talked. "

Tails asked in surprise, " You mean, when you got an alliance with us? " remembering how Miles had acted back then. The minute he found himself glaring at him for it, Miles looked depressed with his ears drooping at first and admitted, " Yeah. I get stressed out easily, when I know I'm being judged and stared at, especially by people I really don't want to HATE me that much, and the more people are around, the more I want to leave. I'm sure no one in your city wants to see me there. They only know about one other Tails, and I'm the only one they ever saw. That's why every time I'm outside in that place I'm moving as fast as I can in a blur, either trying to escape or go inside. I know I'm fast enough at flying that I could easily escape anyone who wanted to hurt me, so it's not like I'm afraid of them, outright, I just don't want to DEAL with constant insults from them. At BEST. "

Sally nodded and replied, " I understand. I'm not sure I'm ready to tell people about you either. The last thing I want is an angry mob at worst, or people insulting us for trusting you at best. " Miles sighed in relief, and said, " I'd like it to be kept a secret for as long as possible! Oh, I don't want it to come off as, against you people, I'm actually proud of myself for finally, getting myself to come here and do this. This is the best I've ever HOPED for! It's just that I'm not social and I've had enough attention for one lifetime, " and Bunnie, Sonic and Antoine smiled in the middle of it, finding it heartwarming. They were starting to be the ones who had the most faith in Miles; while Bunnie was pretty suspicious at first, Antoine had done a lot of convincing.

Miles complained, " I'm glad I can start making things up to you and making proper USE of my powers, but It's just so frustrating that not everyone believes me. I SEE all those suspicious looks, like from Knuckles earlier. You don't know how disheartening it is to be honest for once and just be seen as LYING. "

This gave Sonic an idea. " Lying? Wait, that's it! Dulcy! Why didn't I think of this before?! A friend of ours is like a living lie detector. She can sense the purity of truth and can't ever tell lies! All I have to do is whistle for her and get her to vouch for you, and then I can just tell people about that and you'll never have to deal with the suspicion again! " Sonic exclaimed, and the fact that Miles looked hopeful and started smiling was reassuring to the Freedom Fighters who were uneasy about him, like Sally, Bunnie, and especially Tails, because if he had something to hide, he would've been worried. Although his smile soon faded into annoyance, which did worry them.

He replied, " What took you so long?! I-I mean, no offense, don't get mad, but that would've REALLY taken a load off my back! If I knew you were friends with someone like THAT, I would've gone here YEARS ago! Other than being too loyal to my gang, the whole reason I didn't apologize to you all as soon as possible was because I thought no one would believe me! It's just my luck. I was worried for nothing. " Sonic felt awkward, and said, " Sorry? I guess you don't have Dulcy on your planet. I mean if you DID, she'd be her evil twin and we'd have something big to worry about, so maybe it was for the best. The invasion of Freedom HQ was hard ENOUGH to get through unscathed without a fire-breathing dragon on your side! "

Miles stammered looking scared, " A WHAT? A dragon? " Nicole commented unhappily, " I suppose dragons don't have a very good reputation where you're from. Over here, they're just people, there's plenty of nice ones out there. They did have a destructive past at first, but eventually they felt so guilty about the destruction they caused from waging war with each other that they stopped doing it entirely and became peaceful creatures. "

Miles was completely confused and said, " HUH? That's ridiculous! I-I-I mean, of course it's a GOOD thing but since WHEN, why would violent monsters suddenly become nice and peaceful? Were they brainwashed by a wizard? Your planet was VERY lucky, then, because our dragons did nothing but destroy! There's a reason the Anti-Mobians wiped them out! They were dangerous! I was lucky I never met a ' Dulcy, ' over there. "

Sonic reassured him with his hand on his shoulder, " Well, don't worry, buddy. MY Dulcy is one of the gentlest creatures on Planet Mobius! A bit ditzy and flighty, sure, but, well I guess that makes sense for a flight-focused creature, huh? She won't ever hurt you, " ruffling his hair and poking fun at his own unintentional pun in the end.

He whistled with his fingers at sonic speed in a special frequency and Dulcy the Dragon teleported in front of them all in a puff of smoke. She was wearing a shower cap with water droplets all over and dripping off her and was holding a bar of soap, and looked confused as her friends all smiled in amusement, with Tails and Bunnie having to hold back giggling with their hand over their mouth. Sonic apologized sheepishly, " Oh sorry, Dulce, was it a bad time? "

Dulcy smiled and said, " Don't worry, pal! " continued using the soap as Antoine left to go get her towels, and said, " I've still got water all over me anyways. Shame about your floor, though. I'm just happy to see my friends again! I've been pretty busy as an ambassador for the dragon colony recently, talking to all sorts of government people. Actually it's pretty boring and repetitive. I liked Freedom Fighting better. But the elder asked me to do it, so, I guess I have to. Who's your new friend? ". While Miles was startled and scared at first, backed up against the wall, her friendly casual speech ended up reassuring him, although he still looked nervous.

Sonic put his arm around Miles' back and said looking proud of him, " Miles Prower, the Tails from Anti-Mobius! He used to be Tails' ' evil twin. ' A couple months ago he started working for the good version of Robotnik as a double agent, and just yesterday he FINALLY got the courage to start apologizing and make up for everything! Only problem is, everyone's suspicious of him, and thinks he might be lying. So that's where YOU come in! Come on, lil' buddy, tell her. Now you can be as honest as you want. " Dulcy was surprised and pleased to hear the good news, since she had never met the Evil Tails before, and was already idealistic, she had a very easy time forgiving and trusting him by comparison. Antoine gave her some towels, and she dried off with them.

Miles looked surprised and said nervously, " W-Where do I start? I, you just put me on the SPOT! Can I start with saying ' I'm sorry about everything? ' and save the rest for later? Because I am. I can't STAND thinking back to when we were enemies! I should've stopped wasting my time back home a long time ago, but I never thought I'd be given a chance. I had no reason to hate any of you because I didn't KNOW any of you, so all I had was suspicion of the idea that you were really good people when I never saw any proof of that first-hand. Plus I felt like I had to do what my gang told me to do .And it wasn't easy for me, seeing someone who looks just like me, when the whole reason I get so much harassment is the way I look! And then Scourge and Fiona told me Tails had a MUCH happier life than I ever could! HE never had a Sonic as _disappointing_ as mine, so I was JEALOUS, okay?! That's why I used to insult him! And I could go more in detail, but, it would take a WHILE. " Tails looked stunned, as Dulcy had a great big smile and said, " Aw, that's sweet! He's telling the truth! You had nothing to worry about! "

Everyone who had been suspicious of him, especially Sally and Tails, looked shocked and dumbfounded at hearing that, while everyone else just celebrated. Amy cheered, " Woo-hoo! " and both Antoine and her hugged him, with Sonic being amused with his hands on his hips about Miles' reaction to Amy glomping him; after being surprised, he hugged back with a nervous smile that changed into a real one as he got used to it, causing him to think, " _What a lonely kid._ " He said cheerfully ruffling his hair, " SEE? I told you he wasn't lying! " and when they let go, Antoine shook his hand saying, " I'm proud of you, mon frère. And I don't blame you for having taken so long. I'm not one to talk on being brave neither. "

" I-I wasn't SCARED, for the most part, I was just DREADING it going wrong! " Miles said awkwardly and defensively. Dulcy proceeded to say, " Okay, the FIRST part of that was lying. He WAS scared, " just as Tails and Sally were wondering with their arms crossed if Dulcy couldn't detect his lying because he had a sort of magical power, or was just that good of a liar. They still needed some time to let it sink in, staring at him with confused expressions, but so far, there was nothing but proof that Miles was telling the truth.

Miles looked at her in surprise and felt embarrassed, and explained getting into a rant, " I just lied because I was embarrassed, okay? It seems like my only reputation here so far aside from ' suspicious newcomer ' has been, ' shy coward. ' I've been through a lot of suffering in life. Anyone would be, on edge, and, jumpy, after being bullied by everyone on an island for years, and hunted like a RAT! They treated me like a cockroach they needed to EXTERMINATE! They started destroying any bushes or trees that grew food outside as a way to starve me out, and they even put guard dogs around the drinking fountains that were trained to attack me! I learned that no one could be trusted. And anyone who could was just an exception. "

He said to Tails in particular, " You don't know what it's like to see even regular PEOPLE as threats to your safety! I-I can't even go out in public without expecting an angry mob or insults! I'm sick of it! And I know, being with Scourge didn't HELP. But at least he took MY side. I'd given up hope on having a reputation that wasn't terrible, but at least he defended me. He was the FIRST person who was nice to me !"

Dulcy said sadly, " That's awful! Do you want a hug? " Miles was stunned at hearing that, and the prospect of getting a hug from such a big tall lumbering dragon made him back away in fear on instinct, but after a second the way she was behaving and her expression sank in, and he shyly nodded, trying to enjoy himself in the moment and get empathy where he could.

As Dulcy sat down and hugged him, which he found surprisingly comforting for such a big dragon, this confirmed to the Freedom Fighters once and for all that he was telling the truth about everything. A part of Sally was relieved that his past wasn't just a big sob story he made up, which would've outraged her if she found that out, but she still felt awful for him.

Miles spent the next mission a half hour later defending Furville with the Freedom Fighters, freezing some of the cyborgs who were part of Eggman's army, making sure that Antoine and Sally would never have to risk their lives in a fight with them. As he was doing that, he thought, " _I thought the transition would be more awkward, but I feel right at home here! I thought I'd have to save a bunch of complete strangers a lot and hope they don't talk to me, but I'm doing what I do best. Beating up jerks. I-I'm not sure if they're more evil than the drug-sellers and muggers I fought all the time, though. It's not their fault that jerk put bombs in their cybernetics. I thought Sonic and his friends were supposed to be the good guys. But at least I'm still enjoying myself!_ "

The mission was rather short, with all of the Freedom Fighters who went on field missions spread out throughout the town fighting cyborgs of Eggman's army, and once Miles was done freezing the ones around him, he moved onto the other ones in the town, eventually freezing all of them. By the end of the mission when Furville was successfully defended with all of the cyborgs frozen and blown out of the town by Miles' powers, Sonic complained, " Man, this is, what, the fourth time this town got threatened? First the Cater-Killer train, then the army of Swatbots, and then TWO times when we were chasing the Death Egg! And now this! " Miles asked in front of Sally and the town mayor, " Why don't they just have a security system around the place, like a force field? "

There was a brief silence, and Miles felt self-conscious before the mayor said, " That's a good point! Yeah, why DON'T we have a security system? SOMETHING that could keep him from air-dropping robots down here! And a mere wall around the town wouldn't cut it. " Sally said while stunned that Tails' evil twin had a good suggestion for a town's safety, " My city has a force field, but we get the energy to maintain it from syphoning Robotropolis of its nuclear radiation. It requires a lot of energy. "

Miles pointed out, " The force field I'm more familiar with never required such nuclear energy. Actually, he produced it with some Anarchy Beryls. So Chaos Emeralds. Why not just use one of THOSE? " Sonic was proud of him as the mayor was just confused at him mentioning Anarchy Beryls, which he had no reason to know about, and Sally said, " There's only a limited amount of things and Sonic had to go through a Special Stage Challenge by some giant panda god just to get most of them! We're keeping the ones we have in the castle in a city with a force field where no one can get them. "

Miles asked, " Well why can't THEY get energy from Robototropolis, too? Why is your city the only one that does that? In fact, if that gets rid of the nuclear radiation from the city, wouldn't you want as many people syphoning from it as possible so you could get rid of it all faster? Though it would take a while to make another syphon, it'd be worth a shot. I don't know why they don't have a force field if they're such a frequent target. Kintobor had one to protect Knothole just fine. "

The mayor said, " Huh? Kintobor? You mean, Dr Robotnik? You really ARE from another universe, ' Miles. ' And there was no force field around Knothole! Although come to think of it, there really SHOULD'VE been, so it wouldn't have gotten destroyed. You should've had that idea earlier instead of taking so long to think of that. No offense. I wish you had this kid around back then. "

Sally looked annoyed with her arms crossed at Miles unintentionally making Rotor and Tails look like idiots for never making a force field, and all she could do was complain, " We didn't know the Egg Fleet would ambush Knothole that fast. " The mayor snarked, " Never mind that it was constantly under attack. It's okay to admit to mistakes, princess, " as Miles wondered if he had somehow gotten in trouble, and Sonic reassured him with his hand on his shoulder and a thumbs-up to make him smile.

He finished, " Well that's a good idea, Miles. We SHOULD get a force field generator, " and walked away. Sonic reassured him, " Great job, Miles! You didn't even have to try and you made this town better! " and Miles admitted sheepishly, " Yeah I didn't. I just asked that question off-hand, I didn't think they'd bother to do anything because of it. Or that it'd put Sally in a mood. " Sally sighed and reluctantly said to humor them, " THANKS, Miles. You did the right thing. "


	6. Chapter 6

When Sonic, Sally and Miles went back to the city, Miles wanted to fly back to Sonic's house on his own as fast as possible the minute he reached its walls. He said hurriedly, " I'll see you at home, " not wanting anyone in the city to see him and talk to him. Then he worried that Sally would accuse him of doing something evil without supervision if he left on his own, and asked, " Oh right. Do I have to go there with Sonic to keep being supervised? " Sonic reassured him, " Nicole's in the city, she'll vouch for you. Go home, and I'll catch up with you later. "

Miles was confused about how Nicole could be expected to supervise him when he'd fly home at such a high speed, and then said, " Well, I'll fly home so fast that I'll only be alone for a couple seconds anyways, so I guess it's no big deal. " He jumped into the air and used wind propulsion from his hands and tails to shoot up into the sky, flying over and into the city at high speed in a yellow and red blur, leaving Sally alone with Sonic worrying about whether he'd keep his word.

Sonic said to her, " It'll be fine. Nicole's watching the city. By the way, we should really tell the people of the city about our new recruit. Of course we don't have to tell them it's the Evil Tails, but we should at least clear up the confusion about why Tails is ' constantly putting on a shirt and wig and then taking it off for no reason. ' I've already heard some people around the chili dog stand talk about a Tails with new clothes and black hair being with me. Even him being fast all the time didn't stop them from getting suspicious at seeing a blur that's not totally yellow at my side. Problem is, they only ever knew ONE OTHER Tails! And that's getting people worried! "

Sally sighed reluctantly, and said, " If we tell them what we want them to know from the start, we'll have full control over the situation. Sure honesty is good and all, but in a case like this, it's not. We can just tell Miles to keep his true homeworld a secret, which he was probably going to do regardless, and maybe AFTER he's spent a long time with us and earned everyone's trust, maybe THEN it'd be safe to reveal who he really is. So how do you plan to publicly address the city? It's not like I'm the one in charge of it all and can just call for a press conference whenever I want. And the council's always busy. " " How about Mina's concert? It's just about over! Just about everyone goes to her concerts! " Sonic suggested with a smile, and she admitted, " Good idea. "

Sonic and Sally planned to take the microphone with Mina's permission, grateful at having an easy way to address the people of Knothole without having to hope they'd stumble into a news reporter on the job first. He convinced Sally on the way to her concert, " You need to let me make the speech. Out of all the Freedom Fighters I'm the one people look up to the most. Sorry but that's just how it is. So I'd be the one they'd be most likely to trust on this. An endorsement from me would make a big impact, and unlike you, I'm not nervous about Miles being around. So I'd be the best one out of everyone for giving a good vibe about the news. "

They went to her concert, and after she finished singing, they approached her when she was about to leave the microphone, with Sally saying, " We need the mike for a minute. " Sonic told the concertgoers trying to be cheerful, " Okay, before you all go, we have something to say! You know those rumors about Tails runnin' around with a new outfit and then not having it on? Well I've got great news! We've got a new Freedom Fighter, and his name is Miles! Basically Tails from another universe He just helped save Furville from an army of Eggman's troops, and he had Sally's back the whole time! When anybody tried to hurt her, he froze them in a big ice cube! And no one laid a hand on her! "

The last two sentences were at least reassuring to the people of the city who had been terrified of her getting roboticized again since she went back to fighting on missions. Fortunately the people of the crowd seemed confused rather than angry or scared, and it helped that nobody in the city had seen Miles since he impersonated Tails with his friends years ago, so no one had thought about him in years.

Sonic explained, " He even told the mayor of Furville that they should get a force field generator so they'll never get attacked again! I know it sounds weird, and it was to us too, but he's really good at helping us out and he's glad he's finally doing it! " Ash asked him in confusion, " But why would an alternate universe Tails go help the Freedom Fighters HERE, instead of sticking with his OWN? "

Sonic looked nervous, and avoided the question saying, " Does it matter? He wants to help us out, and he's doing it with the best of intentions. He just happens to like being here with us better. " Penelope said in confusion from the front row, " Why wouldn't he like his own universe's Freedom Fighters more? " Sonic nervously answered, " Well, they're, just not as nice as us. They had a bit of a difference of opinion with him, and it made him feel like they never really liked him for who he was. He thinks he'll find life with us more fulfilling and fun, and I know he liked his first mission! "

Penelope said nervously, " ' Fulfilling? ' ' Not as nice? ' There's only one alternate version of Tails we've ever seen and it was the evil one! Remember when the evil twins of the heroes showed up and rode around on motorcycles in Knothole? What other Tails would have any sort of connection with ours? Why else would he come here of all places? " This made the crowd nervous, as she was saying something they were all suspecting was the case, and it became clear that trying to pretend he wasn't Miles was hopeless.

Sonic stammered, " W-Well, uh… " He realized that if he tried to lie to them at that point, he might lose their trust because he tried to tell them such an obvious lie. While he could've told them that some other Tails met them without the people of the city knowing about it, it wouldn't have been as believable as a Tails they already knew coming back, and he was too nervous to make any lie sound convincing.

He admitted reluctantly, " Well, since you're all doubtful of the kid's sincerity about helping us, I've got a friend of mine who can vouch for him. " Sonic whistled and Dulcy teleported to him in a puff of smoke. She was holding a sandwich at the time, in the middle of eating a snack, and was confused from being warped to Sonic without knowing the context at all, so Sonic had to explain to her, " I need you to defend Miles for me. "

Dulcy smiled confidently and said, " Well okay. As you all probably know, a dragon cannot tell lies, and can sense whether someone is lying or telling the truth. And I know for a fact that Miles isn't lying! He's gotten sick of his old life, and he wants to make it up to the Freedom Fighters no matter what it takes! And he meant his apologies to them. So he's gonna be on his best behavior! "

Penelope said nervously, " Well, that doesn't mean he won't go back to his old ways later! " with the crowd's nervous expressions seeming to echo the same sentiment. Sally was worried about that herself, and hearing that she wasn't alone in that wasn't reassuring. Dylan said in concern, " He may be sincere now, and I like the idea of that, but who's to say he won't fall back on being evil out of habit? Or get tired of your freedom fighting and disgruntled and think of you as self-righteous hypocrites, like Fiona? Dulcy could've vouched for her back then and it wouldn't mean she wouldn't betray you later! "

Sonic said, " I get why you'd be worried about that, but being with the Freedom Fighters means _everything_ to him now! That's his life now and he doesn't want to lose it! We're the only friends he has left now. He said he's willing to do anything for us! He's not gonna disobey Sally's orders, he wouldn't have the nerve to! He's already afraid of doing stuff independently that they might approve of because he thinks he'll get in trouble for it! He just asked me if it was okay to go home without being supervised the whole time! "

One of the random civilians in the crowd, a bear Mobian, said, " He doesn't have to outright disobey orders and betray the Freedom Fighters to do bad things. It could happen from force of habit. What if he steals something in a misguided attempt to help his new ' friends ' or is too violent and harsh to their enemies? He could forget that he's not allowed to do that anymore. Don't get me wrong, it'd be great if the kid went on to be a hero from now on, we're just worried about you, especially after all the times you've been betrayed. "

Uncle Chuck, who had met him that morning, stood up for him, " Hey, he's not so bad! I had breakfast with him this morning and he was on his best behavior! He was quiet and shy and tried to be polite. Only problem was, he was distant. I don't think there's anything to worry about. He's no Scourge! "

Sonic said, " Thanks, Unc! I admit it'd take some getting used to, for everyone, but he REALLY doesn't wanna get in trouble with us. I just want him to relax already! And so does Kintobor – he's the good version of Robotnik from Moebius, by the way. He's got a whole tower of healing where he tends to people as a doctor, and he made a force field for people in a city so they'd have a safe place to live! And he had nothing but good things to say about him! Miles worked with him as a double agent against his old gang for MONTHS before coming here. So yeah, he's changed alright! "

This at least reassured some people, including most of the members of the Council at the concert. Sonic explained, " If it makes you feel any better, you'll barely ever see him in public. He knows he's not exactly popular here, so he's staying inside as much as possible. The point is, he's helping us out, and the only reason he took so long to do this was because he thought we'd just say no! You have no idea how hard it was for him to even approach us with the idea! We definitely could've used his help earlier, but it's better late than never! "

Ash commented in confusion, " So Tails' evil twin is really shy? " Sonic said, " FORMER evil twin. He's not really evil, he's just, got trust issues! You can relate to that, can't you, Ash? " He nodded reluctantly, and Sonic continued, " I guess I was naïve to hope everyone would just be happy we got a new Freedom Fighter, but I can't really blame you. It's weird for everybody. But we'll get used to him. He keeps quiet most of the time, and he has our backs in a fight. And Antoine's certainly happy! He spent months with him when Evil Antoine was here and Miles was nothing but nice to him! He was just happy to have someone else in the gang who didn't like bothering Kintobor for a change! With someone as nice as Tails, is it really hard to believe that even his evil twin wouldn't be that much of a jerk? Now come on, Sally, we made our point. "

He ran away as of the concertgoers stopped looking scared, with people mostly just being confused at the sudden change of heart in someone they only knew as being a troublemaker before. Only the most cynical and weary of them were annoyed and suspicious, and a lot of them smiled, just wanting to think the best of him.

Since the Council of Acorns were all at the front row of the concert, Sally asked Elias nervously, " Am I in trouble? He was really upset and he begged me to let him make up for everything! I couldn't exactly tell him NO when he was feeling like THAT! I didn't feel like I had much of a choice. He even said he'd let us have a tracking device in his wristband if we didn't trust him enough! And if I postponed giving him a real answer until after a meeting with you, he wouldn't have been happy. "

" Don't worry, we don't blame you. It sounds like it was a spur of the moment decision. " Penelope said, " I do like the ' tracking device ' idea. He really said that? " Dulcy said, " She and Sonic haven't lied once up here, for the record. " Dylan said, " As long as he's under constant supervision, I suppose having another Freedom Fighter helping you out wouldn't hurt. It'd be more productive than him just sitting in prison, that's for sure. What does he plan to do for the team? "

Sally said, " Um, be my bodyguard. Not like I need it, of course. But that's what he said. He'd be redundant helping in the lab, or trying to protect Sonic, so he thinks he'll be the most helpful protecting me and Antoine in fights, and he's more than capable of doing it now. "

Dylan said with a nervous smile, " Well, if it keeps you from getting roboticized again, I'm all for it! Anything that keeps you and Antoine alive and uninjured has to be worth the risk. And I suppose if he really plans on making it up to you, that should be rewarded, not punished with suspicion and imprisonment. Maybe it's better to err on the safe side and humor him just in case instead of pushing him away, especially after his first mission was such a success. I mean, freezing your enemies in ICE? We'd be stupid if we didn't let you take advantage of that! " Fortunately they seemed to be convincing at least half of the crowd, and Sonic smiled, thinking that it was nice to see the Council be something other than obstructive for once.

Elias said with a smile at how things were working out, " I could consider his freedom fighting to be community service making up for his earlier conduct. All in favour? " Everyone in the Council agreed, with even Hamlin very reluctantly doing so.

He complained, " I'd be outvoted anyways. I won't lie, I don't I like trusting this Evil Tails. It all seems too easy. He just showed up out of nowhere apologizing to you? But as much as this seems like tempting fate, I can't ignore the fact that you've got a living lie detector right here to vouch for him. So I know he isn't lying to you! At least not for NOW. Just make sure he doesn't change his mind. And if anything goes wrong from this, it'll be on your heads! " Sally and Sonic nodded, relieved that things worked out well and the Council was being reasonable for once, and the concertgoers started going home.


End file.
